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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. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  2. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  5. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  6. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  7. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. There's no middle ________________.
  10. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  11. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  12. That was ________________ to happen.
  13. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  14. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  21. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  22. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  23. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. fork — in a road
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. fork — a garden tool
  5. tear — from crying
  6. bound — obliged
  7. fork — to eat with
  8. degree — from a university
  9. ground — a position
  10. face — to point toward
  11. ground — the earth
  12. bound — certain
  13. march — the month
  14. bound — tied together
  15. degree — an amount
  16. march — music
  17. cold — an illness
  18. march — the month
  19. degree — temperature
  20. ground — crushed
  21. face — to confront
  22. face — part of the head
  23. tear — to rip
  24. cold — not warm

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