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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. It's one o'clock ________________.
  3. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  4. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  7. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  8. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  9. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  10. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  16. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  19. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  20. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  21. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  22. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. sharp — exactly
  3. race — humankind
  4. trunk — of a tree
  5. capital — a city
  6. wind — moving air
  7. race — a contest
  8. sharp — clever
  9. pitch — completely
  10. pitch — a sales talk
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. tear — from crying
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. trunk — of an elephant
  16. sharp — with an edge
  17. tear — to rip
  18. race — the arms race
  19. trunk — of a car
  20. pitch — a sports field
  21. wind — moving air
  22. capital — a big letter
  23. capital — money
  24. bat — the animal

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