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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. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  2. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  6. I'll be taking the ________________.
  7. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  12. He was locked up in a ________________.
  13. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  14. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  17. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  18. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  19. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. There's no middle ________________.
  23. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  24. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. tube — in a tire
  3. chest — of your body
  4. degree — an amount
  5. ground — the earth
  6. tube — the underground
  7. ground — crushed
  8. degree — temperature
  9. chest — of your body
  10. chest — a box
  11. row — to paddle
  12. cell — in a prison
  13. hide — animal skin
  14. hide — to keep secret
  15. degree — from a university
  16. cell — in biology
  17. hide — to keep secret
  18. row — a line
  19. cell — a phone
  20. tear — to rip
  21. tear — from crying
  22. ground — a position
  23. row — a quarrel
  24. tube — a container

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