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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. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  2. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  5. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  6. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  7. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  8. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  9. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  14. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  15. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  16. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  17. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  18. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  19. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. hand — in cards
  3. hand — help
  4. perch — for a bird
  5. stick — a piece of wood
  6. kid — to tease
  7. perch — for a bird
  8. kid — child
  9. stick — to attach or keep to
  10. cold — not warm
  11. stick — a piece of wood
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. chip — for betting
  14. chip — in a computer
  15. scale — for weighing
  16. tear — from crying
  17. chip — to eat
  18. scale — size or range
  19. tear — to rip
  20. cold — an illness
  21. scale — in music
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. perch — the fish
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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