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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.

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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 can't ________________ this cold.
  2. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  3. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  4. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  11. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  12. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  13. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  14. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  17. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  19. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  20. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  21. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  22. That was ________________ to happen.
  23. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  24. The ball is in your ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stand — to bear
  2. tear — to rip
  3. prune — to trim
  4. shower — rain
  5. kid — child
  6. bound — obliged
  7. shower — to wash
  8. shower — a meteor shower
  9. kid — to tease
  10. mine — an explosive
  11. prune — to trim
  12. bound — tied together
  13. court — of a king
  14. prune — the fruit
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. stand — on your feet
  17. tear — from crying
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  19. mine — for digging
  20. tear — from crying
  21. court — of law
  22. bound — certain
  23. stand — for spectators
  24. court — for sport

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