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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  3. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  4. How do you ________________ your surname?
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  7. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  8. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. The ball is in your ________________.
  12. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  15. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  16. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  17. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  18. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  19. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  20. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  21. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  22. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. Have you settled on a ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. spell — magic
  3. tear — to rip
  4. spell — letters
  5. cold — an illness
  6. spell — a short time
  7. lie — an untruth
  8. lie — an untruth
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. land — to come down
  11. court — for sport
  12. patient — a sick person
  13. land — ground
  14. tear — from crying
  15. lie — to recline
  16. court — of a king
  17. tear — from crying
  18. patient — calm and waiting
  19. date — the fruit
  20. patient — a sick person
  21. court — of law
  22. date — on the calendar
  23. land — a country
  24. date — on the calendar

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