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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 cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  2. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  3. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  4. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  5. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  6. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  7. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  8. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  11. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  12. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  15. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  16. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  17. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  18. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  19. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. bass — low music
  3. stem — of a plant
  4. fan — to cool the air
  5. fan — a supporter
  6. stem — to come from
  7. stem — a stem cell
  8. file — a tool
  9. tear — to rip
  10. lean — thin
  11. current — happening now
  12. lean — to rest against
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. tear — from crying
  15. current — of water
  16. fan — a supporter
  17. bass — the instrument
  18. lean — to bend
  19. bass — the fish
  20. file — a line of people
  21. file — a document
  22. bat — the animal
  23. current — electric
  24. bat — for baseball

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