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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 120 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. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  5. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  6. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  7. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  8. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  12. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  13. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  14. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  15. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  16. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  17. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  18. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  19. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  20. Don't do anything ________________.
  21. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  22. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  23. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  24. When are we going to ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. net — for catching
  3. land — a country
  4. fork — a garden tool
  5. rule — government
  6. chair — a professorship
  7. net — after costs
  8. rule — to rule out
  9. spring — a coil
  10. spring — of water
  11. chair — to sit on
  12. chair — a leader
  13. fork — to eat with
  14. land — ground
  15. rule — a law
  16. net — in sport
  17. rash — on the skin
  18. spring — the season
  19. fork — in a road
  20. rash — hasty
  21. rash — a series
  22. tear — from crying
  23. tear — to rip
  24. land — to come down

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