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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. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  5. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  8. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  9. The ________________ went through the wall.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. The tickets are free of ________________.
  18. It's one o'clock ________________.
  19. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  20. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  24. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a line
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. row — to paddle
  5. nail — for a hammer
  6. cold — an illness
  7. tear — to rip
  8. charge — in control
  9. nail — for a hammer
  10. capital — money
  11. sharp — with an edge
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. nail — on a finger
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. bat — the animal
  16. cold — not warm
  17. charge — a price
  18. sharp — exactly
  19. charge — electricity
  20. tear — from crying
  21. capital — a city
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. sharp — clever
  24. tear — from crying

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