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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. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  3. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  7. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  8. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  9. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  13. The light ________________ burned out.
  14. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. I've got to change the light ________________.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  21. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  22. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  23. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  24. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. cap — of ice
  3. cap — a lid
  4. shower — to wash
  5. mine — for digging
  6. kick — with a leg
  7. land — a country
  8. mine — an explosive
  9. shower — rain
  10. clip — to cut
  11. land — ground
  12. shower — a meteor shower
  13. bulb — for light
  14. kick — a thrill
  15. clip — for paper
  16. tear — to rip
  17. bulb — for light
  18. clip — a video
  19. land — to come down
  20. tear — from crying
  21. cap — a hat
  22. mine — belonging to me
  23. bulb — of a plant
  24. kick — in football

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