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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. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  2. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  3. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  4. It's one o'clock ________________.
  5. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  6. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  7. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  8. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  9. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  10. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  14. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  15. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  20. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  21. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  22. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  23. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. present — there
  2. prune — to trim
  3. tear — from crying
  4. sharp — exactly
  5. band — a music group
  6. hand — part of the body
  7. board — a committee
  8. sharp — clever
  9. band — a ring
  10. prune — the fruit
  11. hand — help
  12. hand — in cards
  13. sharp — with an edge
  14. tear — from crying
  15. board — a flat piece
  16. cold — an illness
  17. board — to get on
  18. cold — not warm
  19. band — a rubber band
  20. present — the time now
  21. prune — to trim
  22. present — a gift
  23. tear — to rip
  24. cold — the Cold War

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