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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. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  2. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  7. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  8. Where did you ________________ them?
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  11. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. The light ________________ burned out.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  20. He was locked up in a ________________.
  21. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  22. I've got to change the light ________________.
  23. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  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. hand — part of the body
  2. hand — in cards
  3. cell — a phone
  4. mug — a face
  5. game — wild animals
  6. foot — the bottom
  7. foot — a measure
  8. mug — to rob
  9. hand — help
  10. tear — to rip
  11. bulb — of a plant
  12. cold — not warm
  13. mug — a cup
  14. game — a match
  15. cell — in biology
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. bulb — for light
  18. cold — an illness
  19. game — a kind of play
  20. cell — in a prison
  21. tear — from crying
  22. bulb — for light
  23. foot — part of the body
  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