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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. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  2. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  3. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  6. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  9. She's very handy with a ________________.
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  13. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  14. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  15. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  16. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. He works in a ________________ mill.
  19. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  22. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — to rip
  2. pound — to hit hard
  3. rock — music
  4. cold — an illness
  5. rock — a stone
  6. pitch — a sports field
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. pitch — a sales talk
  9. saw — the tool
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. rock — to move gently
  13. band — a ring
  14. tear — from crying
  15. band — a music group
  16. pound — for dogs
  17. bat — the animal
  18. saw — the tool
  19. pound — a weight
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. pitch — completely
  22. saw — past of 'see'
  23. cold — not warm
  24. tear — from crying

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