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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. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  2. False peace will not ________________.
  3. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  7. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  8. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  9. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  10. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  11. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  12. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  13. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. What do you think of the new ________________?
  17. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  18. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  22. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. last — to go on
  3. kick — a thrill
  4. degree — an amount
  5. degree — temperature
  6. file — a tool
  7. last — finally
  8. lean — to rest against
  9. kick — in football
  10. cabinet — ministers
  11. tear — from crying
  12. tear — to rip
  13. lean — to bend
  14. spring — a coil
  15. spring — the season
  16. cabinet — ministers
  17. last — final
  18. lean — thin
  19. file — a line of people
  20. degree — from a university
  21. kick — with a leg
  22. cabinet — a cupboard
  23. spring — of water
  24. file — a document

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