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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. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  2. There's no middle ________________.
  3. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  4. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  5. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  6. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  13. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  16. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. Have you met the new head ________________?
  19. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  22. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. ground — a position
  3. tear — from crying
  4. coach — pulled by horses
  5. rest — a break
  6. fall — to drop
  7. capital — a city
  8. fall — to drop
  9. bat — the animal
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. degree — from a university
  12. ground — the earth
  13. fall — the season
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. ground — crushed
  16. coach — a trainer
  17. degree — temperature
  18. coach — a trainer
  19. rest — what's left
  20. capital — money
  21. rest — what's left
  22. capital — a big letter
  23. degree — an amount
  24. tear — to rip

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