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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. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  4. False peace will not ________________.
  5. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  6. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  7. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  8. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  9. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  12. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  13. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  14. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  19. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  20. That was a fun ________________.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  23. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  24. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.

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

Answer key

  1. game — wild animals
  2. last — final
  3. lash — to lash out
  4. last — to go on
  5. tear — from crying
  6. object — an aim
  7. pitch — completely
  8. object — to protest
  9. stem — to come from
  10. tear — from crying
  11. stem — of a plant
  12. pitch — a sports field
  13. object — a thing
  14. lash — an eyelash
  15. tear — to rip
  16. cold — not warm
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. lash — a whip stroke
  19. last — finally
  20. game — a match
  21. cold — an illness
  22. game — a kind of play
  23. pitch — a sales talk
  24. stem — a stem cell

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