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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. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  8. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  9. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  10. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  11. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  12. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  13. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  14. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  19. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  20. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  21. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  22. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  23. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — to rip
  2. hand — help
  3. spring — a coil
  4. rule — government
  5. spring — the season
  6. capital — money
  7. perch — the fish
  8. root — of a word
  9. root — the cause
  10. content — videos and posts
  11. tear — from crying
  12. perch — for a bird
  13. tear — from crying
  14. content — happy
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. content — the amount
  17. spring — of water
  18. root — of a plant
  19. rule — a law
  20. perch — for a bird
  21. rule — to rule out
  22. capital — a big letter
  23. hand — in cards
  24. capital — a city

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