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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. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  2. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  3. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  4. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  7. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  8. We're on a ________________ here.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  11. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  12. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  13. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  14. The ball is in your ________________.
  15. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  16. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  17. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  18. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  19. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  20. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  23. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. tear — from crying
  3. roll — a cake
  4. jam — to spread on bread
  5. mine — for digging
  6. lash — a whip stroke
  7. court — of a king
  8. roll — on a roll
  9. clip — to cut
  10. tear — to rip
  11. lash — an eyelash
  12. jam — a tight spot
  13. jam — in traffic
  14. court — for sport
  15. pit — in a race
  16. roll — a list
  17. pit — a hole
  18. pit — a fruit stone
  19. mine — belonging to me
  20. mine — an explosive
  21. clip — a video
  22. lash — to lash out
  23. court — of law
  24. clip — for paper

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