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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. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  3. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  4. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  5. The ball is in your ________________.
  6. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  7. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. The ________________ took off on time.
  10. Where did you ________________ them?
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  13. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  14. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  19. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  20. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  23. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  24. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. tear — from crying
  3. tear — to rip
  4. root — of a word
  5. court — for sport
  6. court — of a king
  7. tear — from crying
  8. spring — a coil
  9. plane — an aircraft
  10. mug — to rob
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. plane — in geometry
  13. spring — of water
  14. mug — a cup
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. cold — an illness
  17. spring — the season
  18. court — of law
  19. plane — a tool
  20. root — of a plant
  21. cold — not warm
  22. hand — in cards
  23. root — the cause
  24. mug — a face

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