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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. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  2. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  5. How do you ________________ your surname?
  6. He was locked up in a ________________.
  7. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  8. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  9. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  10. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  11. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  12. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  13. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. It's one o'clock ________________.
  16. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  19. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  20. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  21. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  24. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. tear — from crying
  3. kid — child
  4. sharp — with an edge
  5. spell — letters
  6. cell — in a prison
  7. sharp — clever
  8. spell — a short time
  9. bark — a dog's sound
  10. cell — in biology
  11. bark — of a tree
  12. dip — to dunk
  13. dip — a sauce
  14. kid — to tease
  15. sharp — exactly
  16. board — a flat piece
  17. tear — to rip
  18. dip — to sink
  19. spell — magic
  20. board — a committee
  21. board — to get on
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. bark — to shout
  24. cell — a phone

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