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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. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  2. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  3. How do you ________________ your surname?
  4. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  5. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  6. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  7. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  8. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  9. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  10. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  11. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  14. That must've been a ________________.
  15. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  16. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  21. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  22. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. dip — to dunk
  3. spell — letters
  4. rush — to hurry
  5. wind — moving air
  6. bowl — a dish
  7. dip — a sauce
  8. rush — hurry
  9. bowl — a football final
  10. dip — to sink
  11. spell — magic
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. branch — of a tree
  14. rush — a thrill
  15. spell — a short time
  16. branch — a division
  17. clip — for paper
  18. branch — of a bank
  19. clip — to cut
  20. bowl — to roll
  21. wind — moving air
  22. tear — to rip
  23. clip — a video
  24. tear — from crying

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