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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. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. I can't ________________ this cold.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  10. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  13. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  14. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  15. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  16. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  17. I'll be taking the ________________.
  18. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  19. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  24. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. tear — from crying
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. hand — help
  5. cap — a hat
  6. hand — in cards
  7. stand — to bear
  8. cold — an illness
  9. cap — of ice
  10. row — a quarrel
  11. cold — not warm
  12. stand — on your feet
  13. snap — to snap out of it
  14. row — a line
  15. stand — for spectators
  16. cap — a lid
  17. tube — the underground
  18. tube — a container
  19. tear — from crying
  20. row — to paddle
  21. snap — to speak sharply
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. tube — in a tire
  24. tear — to rip

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