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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  5. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  6. It's one o'clock ________________.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  15. When was this ________________ built?
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  18. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  19. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  20. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  24. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. tear — from crying
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. board — to get on
  5. sharp — clever
  6. sharp — exactly
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. cold — an illness
  9. spring — of water
  10. pound — for dogs
  11. tear — to rip
  12. tear — from crying
  13. cold — not warm
  14. board — a flat piece
  15. temple — a place of worship
  16. kid — child
  17. temple — a place of worship
  18. temple — side of the head
  19. pound — a weight
  20. pound — to hit hard
  21. spring — a coil
  22. spring — the season
  23. sharp — with an edge
  24. board — a committee

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