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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. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  2. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  3. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  6. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  7. David sat on the ________________.
  8. How do you ________________ your surname?
  9. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  10. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  14. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  15. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  18. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  21. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  22. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  23. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  24. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.

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

Answer key

  1. fine — high quality
  2. tear — from crying
  3. fine — all right
  4. clip — a video
  5. tear — from crying
  6. root — the cause
  7. swing — to play on
  8. spell — letters
  9. spell — a short time
  10. pound — a weight
  11. clip — to cut
  12. wind — moving air
  13. tear — to rip
  14. root — of a word
  15. wind — moving air
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. swing — music
  18. pound — for dogs
  19. clip — for paper
  20. spell — magic
  21. swing — in golf
  22. root — of a plant
  23. fine — a penalty
  24. pound — to hit hard

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