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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. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  2. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  5. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  6. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  9. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  16. I can't ________________ this cold.
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  21. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  24. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.

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

Answer key

  1. pit — a hole
  2. stand — for spectators
  3. cold — not warm
  4. stand — on your feet
  5. row — a quarrel
  6. tear — from crying
  7. shower — to wash
  8. squash — the vegetable
  9. shower — a meteor shower
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. squash — the sport
  12. cold — an illness
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. tear — to rip
  15. tear — from crying
  16. stand — to bear
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. row — a line
  19. shower — rain
  20. squash — to crush
  21. pit — a fruit stone
  22. row — to paddle
  23. straw — dry grass
  24. pit — in a race

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