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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. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  2. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  3. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  4. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  5. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  6. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  7. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  8. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  11. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  12. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  13. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  14. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  15. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  16. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  17. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  20. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. tear — from crying
  3. stem — a stem cell
  4. wound — an injury
  5. face — to point toward
  6. face — to confront
  7. club — for golf
  8. row — a line
  9. tear — to rip
  10. club — a group
  11. row — a quarrel
  12. stem — of a plant
  13. wound — an injury
  14. face — part of the head
  15. row — to paddle
  16. pit — in a race
  17. pit — a fruit stone
  18. degree — from a university
  19. club — for dancing
  20. stem — to come from
  21. degree — temperature
  22. degree — an amount
  23. pit — a hole
  24. wound — past of 'wind'

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