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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. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  6. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  7. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  8. He was locked up in a ________________.
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  11. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  12. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  13. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  16. Have you found your soul ________________?
  17. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  18. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. The ________________ went through the wall.
  24. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. mate — to breed
  3. clip — to cut
  4. clip — for paper
  5. chair — to sit on
  6. tear — from crying
  7. mate — a friend
  8. cell — in a prison
  9. tear — to rip
  10. cell — a phone
  11. scale — for weighing
  12. chair — a professorship
  13. chair — a leader
  14. spring — of water
  15. nail — for a hammer
  16. mate — a partner
  17. scale — size or range
  18. nail — on a finger
  19. clip — a video
  20. spring — a coil
  21. cell — in biology
  22. spring — the season
  23. nail — for a hammer
  24. scale — in music

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