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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 120 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. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  2. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  3. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  4. David sat on the ________________.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  7. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  11. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  15. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  16. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  17. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  20. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  21. The ball is in your ________________.
  22. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  23. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — to turn a key
  2. tear — to rip
  3. tear — from crying
  4. swing — to play on
  5. clip — to cut
  6. deal — an agreement
  7. wind — moving air
  8. clip — for paper
  9. clip — a video
  10. court — of law
  11. wind — moving air
  12. bat — the animal
  13. tear — from crying
  14. rule — to rule out
  15. court — of a king
  16. swing — music
  17. rule — government
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. deal — a big deal
  20. swing — in golf
  21. court — for sport
  22. deal — to handle
  23. rule — a law
  24. bat — for baseball

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