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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. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  2. False peace will not ________________.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  9. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  10. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  11. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  12. Have you met the new head ________________?
  13. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  19. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  22. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  23. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. last — to go on
  3. spring — the season
  4. tear — from crying
  5. bat — the animal
  6. net — for catching
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. net — after costs
  9. file — a document
  10. last — final
  11. last — finally
  12. coach — a trainer
  13. tear — to rip
  14. spring — of water
  15. coach — a trainer
  16. spring — a coil
  17. coach — pulled by horses
  18. file — a tool
  19. firm — steady
  20. file — a line of people
  21. firm — a company
  22. firm — decided
  23. net — in sport
  24. bat — in an idiom

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