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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. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  4. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  5. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  8. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  13. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  14. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  15. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  16. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  19. Have you settled on a ________________?
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  22. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  23. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  24. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — to rip
  2. spring — of water
  3. pound — for dogs
  4. chest — a box
  5. row — a quarrel
  6. spring — a coil
  7. tear — from crying
  8. branch — of a tree
  9. hand — in cards
  10. pound — a weight
  11. spring — the season
  12. tear — from crying
  13. date — on the calendar
  14. chest — of your body
  15. date — the fruit
  16. row — to paddle
  17. hand — help
  18. branch — of a bank
  19. date — on the calendar
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. row — a line
  22. branch — a division
  23. chest — of your body
  24. pound — to hit hard

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