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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. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  4. I'll be taking the ________________.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. The ________________ went through the wall.
  9. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  10. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. False peace will not ________________.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  15. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  18. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  19. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  20. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  21. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  22. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  23. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  24. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — to keep secret
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. hide — to keep secret
  4. tube — the underground
  5. degree — from a university
  6. capital — a city
  7. degree — an amount
  8. nail — for a hammer
  9. wound — an injury
  10. nail — on a finger
  11. degree — temperature
  12. last — to go on
  13. capital — money
  14. hide — animal skin
  15. tube — in a tire
  16. wound — an injury
  17. last — final
  18. tube — a container
  19. tear — from crying
  20. tear — from crying
  21. last — finally
  22. wound — past of 'wind'
  23. tear — to rip
  24. nail — for a hammer

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