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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. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  2. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  5. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  6. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  7. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  8. That was a fun ________________.
  9. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  10. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  11. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  12. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  17. We're on a ________________ here.
  18. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  19. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  20. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  23. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  24. There's no middle ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. mouse — for a computer
  3. bat — the animal
  4. jam — to spread on bread
  5. tear — to rip
  6. track — a song
  7. roll — a list
  8. game — a match
  9. track — a path
  10. track — to keep track
  11. ground — the earth
  12. mouse — the animal
  13. tear — from crying
  14. jam — a tight spot
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. game — wild animals
  17. roll — on a roll
  18. game — a kind of play
  19. roll — a cake
  20. ground — crushed
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. mouse — the animal
  23. jam — in traffic
  24. ground — a position

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