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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 116 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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468
Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. I'll be taking the ________________.
  2. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  3. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  4. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  5. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  6. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  7. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  8. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  9. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  10. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  11. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  12. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  13. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  14. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  15. Did you ________________ the button?
  16. Don't do anything ________________.
  17. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  18. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  19. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  20. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  21. False peace will not ________________.
  22. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  23. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  24. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. tube — the underground
  2. kick — with a leg
  3. tear — to rip
  4. rash — a series
  5. tear — from crying
  6. rash — on the skin
  7. kick — a thrill
  8. press — a publisher
  9. tear — from crying
  10. wound — an injury
  11. kick — in football
  12. tube — in a tire
  13. tube — a container
  14. march — the month
  15. press — to push
  16. rash — hasty
  17. march — music
  18. last — finally
  19. last — final
  20. wound — past of 'wind'
  21. last — to go on
  22. wound — an injury
  23. press — newspapers
  24. march — the month

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com