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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 116 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. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  2. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  5. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  6. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  7. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  8. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  11. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  12. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  13. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  14. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  19. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  20. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  21. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  22. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — part of the body
  2. hand — in cards
  3. land — ground
  4. tear — from crying
  5. mine — an explosive
  6. tear — from crying
  7. pit — a fruit stone
  8. fork — a garden tool
  9. clip — for paper
  10. fork — to eat with
  11. net — after costs
  12. net — in sport
  13. net — for catching
  14. pit — in a race
  15. land — a country
  16. clip — a video
  17. land — to come down
  18. pit — a hole
  19. fork — in a road
  20. mine — for digging
  21. tear — to rip
  22. hand — help
  23. clip — to cut
  24. mine — belonging to me

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