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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. David sat on the ________________.
  2. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  3. It's one o'clock ________________.
  4. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  5. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  6. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  7. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  8. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  9. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  10. He works in a ________________ mill.
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  14. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  21. She's very handy with a ________________.
  22. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  23. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  24. I would like to have a ________________ here.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — to play on
  2. pit — a fruit stone
  3. sharp — exactly
  4. sharp — clever
  5. pit — a hole
  6. wind — moving air
  7. tear — from crying
  8. sharp — with an edge
  9. rest — what's left
  10. saw — the tool
  11. tear — to rip
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. pit — in a race
  14. hand — help
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. tear — from crying
  17. wind — moving air
  18. swing — in golf
  19. hand — in cards
  20. swing — music
  21. saw — the tool
  22. saw — past of 'see'
  23. rest — what's left
  24. rest — a break

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