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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 had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  3. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  4. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  5. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  6. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  13. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  14. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  17. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  24. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. band — a ring
  3. lie — an untruth
  4. tear — from crying
  5. lie — an untruth
  6. band — a rubber band
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. dip — to sink
  9. spring — a coil
  10. band — a music group
  11. capital — money
  12. dip — a sauce
  13. racket — for tennis
  14. dip — to dunk
  15. tear — to rip
  16. tear — from crying
  17. racket — for tennis
  18. spring — of water
  19. capital — a city
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. racket — a loud noise
  22. spring — the season
  23. lie — to recline
  24. kid — to tease

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