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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. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  3. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  4. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  9. The ________________ market has crashed.
  10. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  11. There's no middle ________________.
  12. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  13. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  14. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  18. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  19. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  24. The ball hit the back of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. ground — the earth
  3. ground — crushed
  4. tear — to rip
  5. cold — not warm
  6. lean — to bend
  7. cold — an illness
  8. net — for catching
  9. stock — shares
  10. net — after costs
  11. ground — a position
  12. tear — from crying
  13. drill — a practice
  14. stock — a soup base
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. drill — army training
  18. lean — thin
  19. stock — goods
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. drill — the tool
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. lean — to rest against
  24. net — in 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