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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. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  2. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  3. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  4. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  5. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  6. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  7. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  8. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  9. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  10. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  11. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  12. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  13. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  18. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  19. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  20. It's one o'clock ________________.
  21. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  22. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. march — music
  3. dip — to dunk
  4. tear — from crying
  5. tear — to rip
  6. scale — for weighing
  7. march — the month
  8. sharp — clever
  9. scale — size or range
  10. scale — in music
  11. dip — a sauce
  12. fall — to drop
  13. fall — the season
  14. degree — from a university
  15. degree — an amount
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. dip — to sink
  18. march — the month
  19. fall — to drop
  20. sharp — exactly
  21. sharp — with an edge
  22. shower — to wash
  23. degree — temperature
  24. shower — rain

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