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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. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  2. False peace will not ________________.
  3. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  6. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  7. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  10. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  13. When are we going to ________________?
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  16. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  19. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  20. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  24. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?

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

Answer key

  1. present — there
  2. last — to go on
  3. tear — from crying
  4. cold — an illness
  5. present — the time now
  6. root — of a word
  7. kid — child
  8. tear — to rip
  9. last — final
  10. root — of a plant
  11. land — a country
  12. land — ground
  13. land — to come down
  14. cold — not warm
  15. root — the cause
  16. pass — a permit
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. last — finally
  19. pass — to succeed
  20. pass — to spend time
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. tear — from crying
  23. kid — to tease
  24. present — a gift

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