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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 cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  2. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  4. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  5. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  6. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  7. He is an ace ________________.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  10. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  11. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  12. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  13. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  14. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  18. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  19. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  20. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. band — a music group
  3. mark — a trace
  4. mark — to pay attention
  5. fall — to drop
  6. hide — animal skin
  7. pitcher — in baseball
  8. clip — a video
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. tear — to rip
  11. hide — to keep secret
  12. fall — the season
  13. mark — a grade
  14. fall — to drop
  15. clip — to cut
  16. capital — a city
  17. tear — from crying
  18. hide — to keep secret
  19. pitcher — a jug
  20. band — a rubber band
  21. capital — money
  22. clip — for paper
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. band — a ring

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