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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. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  3. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  4. That was a fun ________________.
  5. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  9. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  10. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  11. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  12. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  13. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  14. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  15. David sat on the ________________.
  16. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  17. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  18. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  23. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. hand — part of the body
  3. game — a kind of play
  4. game — a match
  5. wake — before a funeral
  6. tear — to rip
  7. clip — for paper
  8. hand — in cards
  9. perch — for a bird
  10. swing — in golf
  11. wake — a trail
  12. game — wild animals
  13. wake — to stop sleeping
  14. face — to confront
  15. swing — to play on
  16. perch — the fish
  17. perch — for a bird
  18. face — part of the head
  19. tear — from crying
  20. swing — music
  21. clip — to cut
  22. face — to point toward
  23. hand — help
  24. clip — a video

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