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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 cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  2. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  3. David sat on the ________________.
  4. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  5. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  6. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  7. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. I can't ________________ this cold.
  12. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  13. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  14. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  15. That was a fun ________________.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  19. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  20. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  21. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. tear — to rip
  3. swing — to play on
  4. row — to paddle
  5. swing — music
  6. tear — from crying
  7. stand — on your feet
  8. bat — the animal
  9. game — wild animals
  10. clip — to cut
  11. stand — to bear
  12. swing — in golf
  13. game — a kind of play
  14. hide — to keep secret
  15. game — a match
  16. clip — a video
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. row — a quarrel
  19. hide — animal skin
  20. stand — for spectators
  21. hide — to keep secret
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. clip — for paper
  24. row — a line

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