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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. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  2. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  3. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  4. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  5. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  6. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  7. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  8. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  9. We're on a ________________ here.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  12. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  13. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  14. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  19. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  20. False peace will not ________________.
  21. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  22. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  23. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  24. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.

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

Answer key

  1. roll — a cake
  2. tear — from crying
  3. race — a contest
  4. race — humankind
  5. hide — animal skin
  6. hide — to keep secret
  7. tear — from crying
  8. last — final
  9. roll — on a roll
  10. cold — an illness
  11. prune — to trim
  12. hide — to keep secret
  13. patient — a sick person
  14. prune — the fruit
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. race — the arms race
  17. cold — not warm
  18. prune — to trim
  19. patient — a sick person
  20. last — to go on
  21. tear — to rip
  22. roll — a list
  23. last — finally
  24. patient — calm and waiting

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