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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 124 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. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  2. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  3. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  6. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. When was this ________________ built?
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  13. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  16. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  17. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  18. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  19. The ball is in your ________________.
  20. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  21. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  22. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  23. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  24. False peace will not ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. drill — a practice
  2. drill — the tool
  3. tear — from crying
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. mine — an explosive
  6. net — in sport
  7. clip — for paper
  8. court — of law
  9. tear — to rip
  10. temple — a place of worship
  11. clip — a video
  12. mine — for digging
  13. temple — side of the head
  14. clip — to cut
  15. temple — a place of worship
  16. last — final
  17. tear — from crying
  18. net — after costs
  19. court — for sport
  20. last — finally
  21. court — of a king
  22. net — for catching
  23. drill — army training
  24. last — to go on

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