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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. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  4. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  5. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  6. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  7. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  8. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  9. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  10. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  11. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  12. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  13. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  14. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  15. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  16. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. Don't do anything ________________.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  24. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.

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

Answer key

  1. object — an aim
  2. clip — for paper
  3. club — for golf
  4. rash — on the skin
  5. tear — to rip
  6. kid — to tease
  7. club — a group
  8. fall — to drop
  9. object — to protest
  10. object — a thing
  11. fall — to drop
  12. vault — a safe
  13. rash — a series
  14. vault — an arched ceiling
  15. club — for dancing
  16. fall — the season
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. rash — hasty
  19. clip — to cut
  20. vault — in gymnastics
  21. tear — from crying
  22. clip — a video
  23. kid — child
  24. tear — from crying

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