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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 124 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. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  2. He works in a ________________ mill.
  3. She's very handy with a ________________.
  4. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  5. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  6. I'll be taking the ________________.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  9. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  10. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  13. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  14. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  15. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  16. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  19. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  20. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  21. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  24. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.

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

Answer key

  1. object — an aim
  2. saw — the tool
  3. saw — the tool
  4. object — to protest
  5. tear — from crying
  6. tube — the underground
  7. chest — of your body
  8. patient — calm and waiting
  9. wound — past of 'wind'
  10. tear — to rip
  11. chest — of your body
  12. wound — an injury
  13. saw — past of 'see'
  14. patient — a sick person
  15. tube — a container
  16. land — a country
  17. chest — a box
  18. tear — from crying
  19. object — a thing
  20. wound — an injury
  21. land — ground
  22. land — to come down
  23. patient — a sick person
  24. tube — in a tire

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