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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. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  2. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  3. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  4. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  5. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  6. You don't need to ________________ round.
  7. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  10. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  11. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  12. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  13. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  17. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  18. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  19. We're almost out of ________________.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  22. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  23. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  24. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. tear — from crying
  3. snap — to click
  4. rule — to rule out
  5. stem — to come from
  6. pop — to visit
  7. tear — to rip
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. snap — to speak sharply
  10. staff — employees
  11. stem — a stem cell
  12. staff — a stick
  13. staff — employees
  14. row — to paddle
  15. tear — from crying
  16. pop — music
  17. row — a line
  18. rule — a law
  19. pop — soda
  20. march — the month
  21. stem — of a plant
  22. rule — government
  23. march — music
  24. snap — to snap out of it

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