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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. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  2. That must've been a ________________.
  3. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  4. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  5. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  6. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  7. We're on a ________________ here.
  8. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  14. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  15. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  16. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  22. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. rush — a thrill
  3. roll — a cake
  4. tear — from crying
  5. drill — the tool
  6. track — to keep track
  7. roll — on a roll
  8. track — a path
  9. land — ground
  10. rush — to hurry
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. game — a match
  13. tear — to rip
  14. track — a song
  15. rush — hurry
  16. game — wild animals
  17. land — to come down
  18. drill — a practice
  19. capital — a city
  20. land — a country
  21. drill — army training
  22. capital — a big letter
  23. capital — money
  24. roll — a list

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