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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. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  3. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  4. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  5. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  6. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  9. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  10. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  11. I can't ________________ this cold.
  12. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  13. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  14. It's one o'clock ________________.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  17. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  18. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  19. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  20. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  21. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  22. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  23. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  24. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. tear — from crying
  3. racket — a loud noise
  4. racket — for tennis
  5. row — a line
  6. march — the month
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. stand — for spectators
  9. march — the month
  10. sharp — clever
  11. stand — to bear
  12. row — to paddle
  13. prune — to trim
  14. sharp — exactly
  15. kid — to tease
  16. prune — to trim
  17. row — a quarrel
  18. racket — for tennis
  19. tear — to rip
  20. march — music
  21. stand — on your feet
  22. sharp — with an edge
  23. prune — the fruit
  24. tear — from crying

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