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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 120 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. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  2. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  3. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  4. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  5. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  12. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  13. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  14. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. That was ________________ to happen.
  18. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  19. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  20. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  21. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  22. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  23. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  24. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. bound — obliged
  3. fine — all right
  4. fine — a penalty
  5. fan — to cool the air
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. row — a line
  9. bat — the animal
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. fine — high quality
  12. stick — a piece of wood
  13. stick — a piece of wood
  14. bound — tied together
  15. cold — an illness
  16. cold — not warm
  17. bound — certain
  18. fan — a supporter
  19. row — a quarrel
  20. tear — from crying
  21. row — to paddle
  22. tear — to rip
  23. tear — from crying
  24. stick — to attach or keep to

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