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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 am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  2. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  5. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  6. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  7. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  8. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  9. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  10. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  11. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  12. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  18. I can't ________________ this cold.
  19. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  20. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  21. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. object — to protest
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. stand — on your feet
  5. wake — before a funeral
  6. object — a thing
  7. prune — to trim
  8. tear — from crying
  9. stand — for spectators
  10. tear — to rip
  11. fan — to cool the air
  12. fan — a supporter
  13. bat — the animal
  14. cold — not warm
  15. object — an aim
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. tear — from crying
  18. stand — to bear
  19. prune — to trim
  20. wake — a trail
  21. prune — the fruit
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. cold — an illness
  24. wake — to stop sleeping

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