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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 124 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. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  3. The ________________ market has crashed.
  4. How do you ________________ your surname?
  5. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  6. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  7. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  10. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  11. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  12. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  13. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  14. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  15. He works in a ________________ mill.
  16. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  17. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. She's very handy with a ________________.
  20. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  21. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  22. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  23. He was locked up in a ________________.
  24. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. fan — to cool the air
  3. stock — shares
  4. spell — letters
  5. fan — a supporter
  6. present — a gift
  7. spell — magic
  8. tear — to rip
  9. land — a country
  10. present — the time now
  11. fan — a supporter
  12. stock — a soup base
  13. stock — goods
  14. cell — in biology
  15. saw — the tool
  16. tear — from crying
  17. spell — a short time
  18. land — to come down
  19. saw — the tool
  20. cell — a phone
  21. land — ground
  22. saw — past of 'see'
  23. cell — in a prison
  24. present — there

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