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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. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  2. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  3. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  4. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  5. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. It's one o'clock ________________.
  9. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  10. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  13. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  14. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  15. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  16. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  19. That was ________________ to happen.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  22. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. net — after costs
  3. leaves — to go away
  4. sharp — clever
  5. bound — obliged
  6. tear — to rip
  7. clip — a video
  8. sharp — exactly
  9. leaves — lets stay
  10. pit — a fruit stone
  11. spring — a coil
  12. bound — tied together
  13. net — for catching
  14. tear — from crying
  15. sharp — with an edge
  16. leaves — of a tree
  17. clip — for paper
  18. net — in sport
  19. bound — certain
  20. spring — of water
  21. pit — a hole
  22. pit — in a race
  23. clip — to cut
  24. spring — the season

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