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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 120 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.

Words on the sheet
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. The water is too ________________.
  2. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  3. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  4. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  7. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. When was this ________________ built?
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  12. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  15. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  16. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  17. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  18. That must've been a ________________.
  19. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  20. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  21. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  22. The ________________ went through the wall.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. I would like to have a ________________ here.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. tear — from crying
  3. temple — a place of worship
  4. temple — side of the head
  5. cold — an illness
  6. nail — on a finger
  7. wind — to turn a key
  8. tear — to rip
  9. temple — a place of worship
  10. wind — moving air
  11. tear — from crying
  12. chair — a professorship
  13. wind — moving air
  14. rush — hurry
  15. rest — what's left
  16. rest — what's left
  17. chair — a leader
  18. rush — a thrill
  19. rush — to hurry
  20. nail — for a hammer
  21. chair — to sit on
  22. nail — for a hammer
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. rest — a break

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