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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 124 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. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  3. How do you ________________ your surname?
  4. You don't need to ________________ round.
  5. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  8. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  9. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. We're almost out of ________________.
  12. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  13. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  14. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  15. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  18. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  19. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  20. Have you settled on a ________________?
  21. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  22. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  23. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  24. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. wound — past of 'wind'
  3. spell — letters
  4. pop — to visit
  5. spell — a short time
  6. hand — in cards
  7. tear — from crying
  8. date — on the calendar
  9. face — to point toward
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. pop — soda
  12. face — part of the head
  13. tear — to rip
  14. pop — music
  15. spell — magic
  16. wound — an injury
  17. date — the fruit
  18. hand — part of the body
  19. face — to confront
  20. date — on the calendar
  21. hand — help
  22. capital — a city
  23. wound — an injury
  24. capital — money

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