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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. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  2. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  3. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  4. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  5. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  6. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  7. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. It's one o'clock ________________.
  10. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  11. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  12. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  13. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  14. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  15. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  19. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. There's no middle ________________.
  22. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  23. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  24. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. ground — crushed
  3. march — music
  4. sharp — clever
  5. lean — to bend
  6. cap — of ice
  7. sharp — with an edge
  8. capital — a city
  9. sharp — exactly
  10. march — the month
  11. lean — thin
  12. tear — to rip
  13. cap — a lid
  14. tear — from crying
  15. ground — the earth
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. capital — money
  18. march — the month
  19. kid — to tease
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. ground — a position
  22. kid — child
  23. lean — to rest against
  24. cap — a hat

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