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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. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  2. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  3. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  4. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  5. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. He was locked up in a ________________.
  10. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  11. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  12. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  13. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  14. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  15. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  19. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  20. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  21. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  22. False peace will not ________________.
  23. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  24. At ________________, we arrived at the village.

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

Answer key

  1. deal — an agreement
  2. rule — a law
  3. tear — from crying
  4. cell — in biology
  5. bark — to shout
  6. cell — a phone
  7. spring — of water
  8. tear — to rip
  9. cell — in a prison
  10. content — happy
  11. content — videos and posts
  12. deal — to handle
  13. last — final
  14. rule — government
  15. content — the amount
  16. spring — a coil
  17. spring — the season
  18. bark — a dog's sound
  19. deal — a big deal
  20. tear — from crying
  21. bark — of a tree
  22. last — to go on
  23. rule — to rule out
  24. last — finally

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