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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. How do you ________________ your surname?
  3. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  4. That was a fun ________________.
  5. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  6. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  7. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  8. My mare is ________________ in color.
  9. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  10. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  13. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  14. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  15. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  16. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  19. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  20. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  21. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. spell — letters
  3. bark — of a tree
  4. game — a match
  5. pit — a hole
  6. spell — magic
  7. pit — a fruit stone
  8. bay — a horse colour
  9. bay — to keep at bay
  10. tear — from crying
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. land — ground
  13. spell — a short time
  14. bark — a dog's sound
  15. bark — to shout
  16. pit — in a race
  17. tear — to rip
  18. land — a country
  19. foot — the bottom
  20. bay — a part of the sea
  21. foot — a measure
  22. land — to come down
  23. foot — part of the body
  24. game — wild animals

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