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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 124 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. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  2. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  3. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  4. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  5. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  6. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  7. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  8. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  9. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  12. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  13. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  14. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  15. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. Don't do anything ________________.
  19. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  22. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. The players ran onto the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. deal — to handle
  2. cap — a lid
  3. deal — an agreement
  4. rash — on the skin
  5. file — a line of people
  6. fork — to eat with
  7. fork — a garden tool
  8. pitch — completely
  9. file — a tool
  10. clip — to cut
  11. pitch — a sales talk
  12. rash — a series
  13. fork — in a road
  14. tear — from crying
  15. cap — of ice
  16. tear — to rip
  17. clip — for paper
  18. rash — hasty
  19. deal — a big deal
  20. clip — a video
  21. cap — a hat
  22. tear — from crying
  23. file — a document
  24. pitch — a sports field

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