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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. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  2. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  3. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  4. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  9. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  12. When was this ________________ built?
  13. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  14. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  15. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  21. He was locked up in a ________________.
  22. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  23. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  24. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the sport
  2. tear — to rip
  3. rest — what's left
  4. tear — from crying
  5. clip — to cut
  6. clip — for paper
  7. file — a tool
  8. rest — a break
  9. squash — the vegetable
  10. clip — a video
  11. tear — from crying
  12. temple — a place of worship
  13. rest — what's left
  14. squash — to crush
  15. cell — a phone
  16. file — a document
  17. field — a subject
  18. file — a line of people
  19. field — for sport
  20. cell — in biology
  21. cell — in a prison
  22. temple — a place of worship
  23. temple — side of the head
  24. field — farmland

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