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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. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  2. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  3. False peace will not ________________.
  4. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  5. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  6. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  9. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  12. When are we going to ________________?
  13. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  14. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  15. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  18. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  19. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  20. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  21. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  22. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. pass — to succeed
  3. last — to go on
  4. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  5. tear — to rip
  6. last — finally
  7. hand — in cards
  8. ruler — a monarch
  9. last — final
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. pass — to spend time
  12. land — to come down
  13. net — after costs
  14. ruler — for measuring
  15. pass — a permit
  16. kid — to tease
  17. kid — child
  18. ruler — for measuring
  19. hand — help
  20. tear — from crying
  21. net — for catching
  22. net — in sport
  23. land — a country
  24. land — ground

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