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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. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  3. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  4. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  5. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  10. False peace will not ________________.
  11. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  12. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  16. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  17. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  18. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  19. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  22. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  23. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  24. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. pound — for dogs
  3. tear — from crying
  4. wind — moving air
  5. pound — to hit hard
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. bore — gave birth
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. pit — a fruit stone
  10. last — to go on
  11. last — finally
  12. pit — a hole
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. cold — an illness
  15. pound — a weight
  16. bore — to drill
  17. wind — moving air
  18. tear — from crying
  19. tear — to rip
  20. cold — not warm
  21. wind — to turn a key
  22. pit — in a race
  23. last — final
  24. bore — to tire

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