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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. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. I'll be taking the ________________.
  4. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  7. Have you found your soul ________________?
  8. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  17. The ________________ market has crashed.
  18. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  19. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  23. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  24. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. hand — help
  3. tube — the underground
  4. lie — an untruth
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. stock — a soup base
  7. mate — a partner
  8. mate — a friend
  9. bat — the animal
  10. stock — goods
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. tear — to rip
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. lie — to recline
  15. tear — from crying
  16. lie — an untruth
  17. stock — shares
  18. tube — in a tire
  19. tube — a container
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. capital — a city
  22. hand — in cards
  23. mate — to breed
  24. capital — money

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