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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. Don't do anything ________________.
  2. Have you met the new head ________________?
  3. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  4. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  5. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  10. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  11. I can't ________________ this cold.
  12. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  13. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  19. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  20. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  21. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. False peace will not ________________.
  24. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?

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

Answer key

  1. rash — hasty
  2. coach — a trainer
  3. tear — from crying
  4. stand — for spectators
  5. tear — to rip
  6. cold — not warm
  7. coach — a trainer
  8. clip — for paper
  9. branch — of a bank
  10. rash — a series
  11. stand — to bear
  12. last — final
  13. last — finally
  14. clip — to cut
  15. branch — of a tree
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. clip — a video
  18. rash — on the skin
  19. stand — on your feet
  20. tear — from crying
  21. branch — a division
  22. cold — an illness
  23. last — to go on
  24. coach — pulled by horses

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