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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 120 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.

Words on the sheet
468
Word bank
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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  3. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  4. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  5. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  8. She's very handy with a ________________.
  9. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  10. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  11. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  12. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  15. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  16. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  17. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  18. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  23. He works in a ________________ mill.
  24. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. cap — a lid
  3. tear — to rip
  4. tear — from crying
  5. dip — a sauce
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. dip — to dunk
  8. saw — the tool
  9. fan — a supporter
  10. fan — to cool the air
  11. racket — for tennis
  12. dip — to sink
  13. kid — child
  14. cap — of ice
  15. fan — a supporter
  16. saw — past of 'see'
  17. tear — from crying
  18. cap — a hat
  19. cold — an illness
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. cold — not warm
  22. racket — for tennis
  23. saw — the tool
  24. racket — a loud noise

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