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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 116 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. The water is too ________________.
  3. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  4. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  5. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  6. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  10. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  11. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  12. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  13. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  14. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  15. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  16. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  17. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  18. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  21. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  22. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  23. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  24. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. cold — not warm
  3. tear — from crying
  4. tear — to rip
  5. wax — to grow
  6. leaves — to go away
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. cold — an illness
  9. root — of a plant
  10. wax — for sculpting
  11. race — humankind
  12. fall — to drop
  13. leaves — lets stay
  14. race — a contest
  15. fall — the season
  16. wound — past of 'wind'
  17. fall — to drop
  18. leaves — of a tree
  19. wound — an injury
  20. race — the arms race
  21. root — of a word
  22. wax — in the ear
  23. root — the cause
  24. wound — an injury

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