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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. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  2. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  3. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  4. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  5. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  8. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  9. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  10. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  11. There's no middle ________________.
  12. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  13. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  16. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  23. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  24. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.

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

Answer key

  1. racket — for tennis
  2. leaves — to go away
  3. leaves — lets stay
  4. cap — a lid
  5. bark — of a tree
  6. tear — to rip
  7. ground — crushed
  8. leaves — of a tree
  9. ground — the earth
  10. mine — an explosive
  11. ground — a position
  12. bark — to shout
  13. mine — belonging to me
  14. kid — to tease
  15. racket — a loud noise
  16. tear — from crying
  17. mine — for digging
  18. tear — from crying
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. bark — a dog's sound
  21. kid — child
  22. cap — of ice
  23. cap — a hat
  24. racket — for tennis

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