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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. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  2. What do you think of the new ________________?
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  7. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  11. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  12. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  15. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  16. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  17. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  18. There's no middle ________________.
  19. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  24. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. cabinet — ministers
  3. hand — in cards
  4. degree — from a university
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. ground — crushed
  7. mine — for digging
  8. tear — to rip
  9. hand — help
  10. mine — an explosive
  11. rock — music
  12. march — the month
  13. tear — from crying
  14. ground — the earth
  15. cabinet — ministers
  16. rock — a stone
  17. rock — to move gently
  18. ground — a position
  19. march — music
  20. degree — an amount
  21. march — the month
  22. degree — temperature
  23. mine — belonging to me
  24. cabinet — a cupboard

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