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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 met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. She's very handy with a ________________.
  3. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  7. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  8. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. He works in a ________________ mill.
  11. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  12. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  13. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  14. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. He is an ace ________________.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  24. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. saw — the tool
  3. tear — from crying
  4. cold — an illness
  5. cold — not warm
  6. wave — of the sea
  7. chair — to sit on
  8. wave — a sudden rise
  9. mine — for digging
  10. saw — the tool
  11. chair — a leader
  12. pitcher — a jug
  13. saw — past of 'see'
  14. wave — with your hand
  15. spring — of water
  16. spring — the season
  17. tear — to rip
  18. pitcher — in baseball
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. pitcher — a jug
  22. spring — a coil
  23. tear — from crying
  24. chair — a professorship

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