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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. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  2. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  3. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  11. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  14. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  15. When are we going to ________________?
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. He works in a ________________ mill.
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  19. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  20. That must've been a ________________.
  21. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  22. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  23. She's very handy with a ________________.
  24. He was locked up in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — to hurry
  2. leaves — to go away
  3. rush — hurry
  4. cell — a phone
  5. tear — from crying
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. tear — from crying
  8. tear — to rip
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. leaves — of a tree
  11. cell — in biology
  12. bat — the animal
  13. land — a country
  14. straw — a straw man
  15. land — to come down
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. saw — the tool
  18. land — ground
  19. straw — dry grass
  20. rush — a thrill
  21. saw — past of 'see'
  22. leaves — lets stay
  23. saw — the tool
  24. cell — in a prison

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