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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 met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  3. How do you ________________ your surname?
  4. That must've been a ________________.
  5. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  6. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  7. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  8. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  9. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  10. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  11. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  12. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  13. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. There's no middle ________________.
  16. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  17. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  18. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  19. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  20. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  21. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  22. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  23. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  24. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. root — of a plant
  3. spell — letters
  4. rush — a thrill
  5. spell — a short time
  6. ground — the earth
  7. tear — from crying
  8. ground — crushed
  9. rush — hurry
  10. mine — an explosive
  11. snap — to click
  12. tear — to rip
  13. root — the cause
  14. mine — for digging
  15. ground — a position
  16. snap — to snap out of it
  17. tear — from crying
  18. spell — magic
  19. scale — in music
  20. rush — to hurry
  21. snap — to speak sharply
  22. root — of a word
  23. scale — size or range
  24. scale — for weighing

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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