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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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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 hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  4. There's no middle ________________.
  5. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  8. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  9. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  10. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  11. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  16. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  17. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  18. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  19. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  20. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  21. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. He is an ace ________________.
  24. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.

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

Answer key

  1. lie — to recline
  2. cold — not warm
  3. tear — from crying
  4. ground — a position
  5. ground — the earth
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. tear — to rip
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. snap — to speak sharply
  10. bark — of a tree
  11. bark — to shout
  12. cell — a phone
  13. snap — to snap out of it
  14. cold — an illness
  15. lie — an untruth
  16. cell — in biology
  17. ground — crushed
  18. lie — an untruth
  19. bark — a dog's sound
  20. snap — to click
  21. pitcher — a jug
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. pitcher — in baseball
  24. tear — from crying

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