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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. There's no middle ________________.
  2. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  3. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  4. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. It's one o'clock ________________.
  7. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  8. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  11. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  12. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  13. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  14. He is an ace ________________.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. That must've been a ________________.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  24. Take your time. There's no ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — a position
  2. tear — from crying
  3. tear — from crying
  4. sharp — clever
  5. cold — an illness
  6. sharp — exactly
  7. cap — a lid
  8. cap — a hat
  9. spring — the season
  10. ground — the earth
  11. ground — crushed
  12. pitcher — a jug
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. pitcher — in baseball
  15. spring — a coil
  16. rush — a thrill
  17. tear — to rip
  18. rush — to hurry
  19. cold — not warm
  20. sharp — with an edge
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. spring — of water
  23. cap — of ice
  24. rush — hurry

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