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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. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  4. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  5. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  8. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  11. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. He was locked up in a ________________.
  16. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  19. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  20. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. False peace will not ________________.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. craft — a skill
  2. last — final
  3. tear — from crying
  4. tear — from crying
  5. shower — a meteor shower
  6. shower — to wash
  7. lie — an untruth
  8. row — a line
  9. tear — to rip
  10. cell — in biology
  11. craft — a handicraft
  12. clip — to cut
  13. craft — boats
  14. clip — a video
  15. cell — in a prison
  16. last — finally
  17. clip — for paper
  18. cell — a phone
  19. lie — to recline
  20. row — a quarrel
  21. shower — rain
  22. last — to go on
  23. row — to paddle
  24. lie — an untruth

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