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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. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  2. We're almost out of ________________.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  5. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  6. False peace will not ________________.
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  9. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  10. You don't need to ________________ round.
  11. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  14. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  15. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  16. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  19. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  20. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  21. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  22. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  23. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  24. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — music
  2. pop — soda
  3. last — final
  4. lie — an untruth
  5. toast — the most admired
  6. last — to go on
  7. wound — an injury
  8. scale — size or range
  9. toast — a drink to someone
  10. pop — to visit
  11. tear — from crying
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. lie — to recline
  14. wound — an injury
  15. scale — in music
  16. toast — bread
  17. cell — in a prison
  18. tear — to rip
  19. lie — an untruth
  20. tear — from crying
  21. cell — in biology
  22. last — finally
  23. cell — a phone
  24. scale — for weighing

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