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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.

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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 cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  2. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  4. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  7. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  8. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  9. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  10. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  11. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  15. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  16. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  17. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  18. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  21. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  22. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  23. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  24. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. mine — an explosive
  3. squash — the sport
  4. object — to protest
  5. chest — of your body
  6. rule — to rule out
  7. rule — a law
  8. lash — to lash out
  9. squash — the vegetable
  10. tear — to rip
  11. mine — belonging to me
  12. chest — of your body
  13. degree — from a university
  14. object — an aim
  15. lash — a whip stroke
  16. object — a thing
  17. degree — an amount
  18. tear — from crying
  19. degree — temperature
  20. lash — an eyelash
  21. squash — to crush
  22. rule — government
  23. mine — for digging
  24. chest — a box

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