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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 116 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. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  3. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  4. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  5. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  6. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  7. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  8. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  9. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  10. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  13. David sat on the ________________.
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  16. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  20. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  21. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  22. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  23. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  24. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. shower — rain
  3. squash — to crush
  4. tear — to rip
  5. swing — music
  6. chip — for betting
  7. chip — in a computer
  8. march — the month
  9. bark — of a tree
  10. squash — the vegetable
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. swing — in golf
  13. swing — to play on
  14. hand — in cards
  15. chip — to eat
  16. bark — a dog's sound
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. hand — help
  19. shower — to wash
  20. squash — the sport
  21. tear — from crying
  22. bark — to shout
  23. march — the month
  24. march — music

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