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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'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. I've got to change the light ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  6. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  7. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  11. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  14. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. The light ________________ burned out.
  17. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  20. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  21. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  24. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. kid — child
  3. bulb — for light
  4. cold — an illness
  5. tear — from crying
  6. fine — all right
  7. land — a country
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. tear — to rip
  10. wake — to stop sleeping
  11. tear — from crying
  12. cold — not warm
  13. fine — high quality
  14. lie — an untruth
  15. kid — to tease
  16. bulb — for light
  17. fine — a penalty
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. wake — a trail
  20. wake — before a funeral
  21. lie — an untruth
  22. land — to come down
  23. bulb — of a plant
  24. lie — to recline

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