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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. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  2. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  3. She's very handy with a ________________.
  4. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  5. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  6. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  7. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  8. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  11. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  14. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  15. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. He is an ace ________________.
  19. He works in a ________________ mill.
  20. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  23. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  24. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.

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

Answer key

  1. object — to protest
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. saw — the tool
  4. tear — from crying
  5. file — a line of people
  6. prune — to trim
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. shower — a meteor shower
  9. tear — to rip
  10. prune — to trim
  11. object — an aim
  12. shower — rain
  13. prune — the fruit
  14. mark — a trace
  15. saw — past of 'see'
  16. file — a tool
  17. shower — to wash
  18. pitcher — in baseball
  19. saw — the tool
  20. mark — a grade
  21. file — a document
  22. tear — from crying
  23. object — a thing
  24. mark — to pay attention

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