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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. Did you ________________ the meat?
  2. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  3. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  4. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  5. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  8. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  9. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  10. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  13. This piece is in a major ________________.
  14. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  17. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  18. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  21. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  22. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  23. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  24. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. season — to add flavour
  2. tear — from crying
  3. season — of the year
  4. racket — for tennis
  5. track — a song
  6. clip — a video
  7. tear — from crying
  8. track — to keep track
  9. season — in sport
  10. key — the most important part
  11. hand — help
  12. racket — for tennis
  13. key — in music
  14. key — for a lock
  15. clip — for paper
  16. fall — the season
  17. track — a path
  18. tear — to rip
  19. clip — to cut
  20. fall — to drop
  21. racket — a loud noise
  22. fall — to drop
  23. hand — in cards
  24. hand — part of the body

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