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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. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  2. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  3. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  4. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  5. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  6. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  7. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  8. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  14. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  15. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  21. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  22. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  23. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  24. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. mark — to pay attention
  3. scale — for weighing
  4. mark — a trace
  5. face — to confront
  6. straw — a straw man
  7. scale — in music
  8. face — part of the head
  9. cold — an illness
  10. current — happening now
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. face — to point toward
  14. current — of water
  15. scale — size or range
  16. tear — to rip
  17. tear — from crying
  18. cold — not warm
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. wound — an injury
  21. mark — a grade
  22. wound — an injury
  23. current — electric
  24. straw — dry grass

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