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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. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  3. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  6. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  7. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  8. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  9. Have you settled on a ________________?
  10. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  13. When are we going to ________________?
  14. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  15. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  16. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  21. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  22. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  23. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  24. I play ________________ in a jazz band.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. squash — the sport
  3. bark — a dog's sound
  4. hand — help
  5. tear — from crying
  6. bass — low music
  7. bark — of a tree
  8. hand — in cards
  9. date — on the calendar
  10. bark — to shout
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. land — a country
  13. land — to come down
  14. wake — before a funeral
  15. squash — to crush
  16. squash — the vegetable
  17. tear — to rip
  18. wake — a trail
  19. land — ground
  20. date — the fruit
  21. wake — to stop sleeping
  22. date — on the calendar
  23. bass — the fish
  24. bass — the instrument

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