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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. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  2. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  5. We're on a ________________ here.
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  8. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  9. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  10. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  11. That must've been a ________________.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  14. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  15. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  16. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  17. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  18. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  19. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  20. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  21. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  22. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. roll — a cake
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. clip — for paper
  4. tear — from crying
  5. roll — on a roll
  6. tear — to rip
  7. fan — a supporter
  8. roll — a list
  9. wake — to stop sleeping
  10. rush — to hurry
  11. rush — a thrill
  12. spring — the season
  13. spring — of water
  14. race — the arms race
  15. tear — from crying
  16. rush — hurry
  17. wake — before a funeral
  18. spring — a coil
  19. fan — to cool the air
  20. wake — a trail
  21. race — a contest
  22. race — humankind
  23. clip — a video
  24. clip — to cut

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