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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. There's no middle ________________.
  3. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  4. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  5. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  6. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  7. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  8. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  9. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  10. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  11. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  12. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  13. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  14. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  15. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  19. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  20. This piece is in a major ________________.
  21. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  22. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  23. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  24. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. ground — a position
  3. straw — a straw man
  4. kid — child
  5. pound — a weight
  6. key — for a lock
  7. pound — to hit hard
  8. net — in sport
  9. drill — a practice
  10. tear — from crying
  11. ground — the earth
  12. net — after costs
  13. tear — to rip
  14. straw — to clutch at straws
  15. net — for catching
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. drill — the tool
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  19. key — the most important part
  20. key — in music
  21. pound — for dogs
  22. kid — to tease
  23. ground — crushed
  24. drill — army training

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