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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. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  4. The ________________ took off on time.
  5. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  6. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  7. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  10. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  11. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  12. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  13. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  19. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  20. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  21. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  24. I'd like to play a game of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. spring — of water
  3. hide — animal skin
  4. plane — an aircraft
  5. content — happy
  6. file — a document
  7. content — the amount
  8. spring — the season
  9. squash — to crush
  10. plane — in geometry
  11. fall — to drop
  12. tear — to rip
  13. hide — to keep secret
  14. file — a tool
  15. tear — from crying
  16. file — a line of people
  17. spring — a coil
  18. hide — to keep secret
  19. plane — a tool
  20. fall — the season
  21. squash — the vegetable
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. fall — to drop
  24. squash — the sport

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