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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. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  2. She's very handy with a ________________.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  7. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  8. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  9. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  10. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  11. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  14. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  15. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. He works in a ________________ mill.
  19. We're on a ________________ here.
  20. David sat on the ________________.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  23. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. saw — the tool
  3. chest — of your body
  4. hand — in cards
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. dip — to sink
  7. tear — to rip
  8. swing — in golf
  9. chest — a box
  10. dip — to dunk
  11. saw — past of 'see'
  12. chest — of your body
  13. roll — a list
  14. dip — a sauce
  15. roll — a cake
  16. spring — the season
  17. hand — help
  18. saw — the tool
  19. roll — on a roll
  20. swing — to play on
  21. spring — of water
  22. swing — music
  23. tear — from crying
  24. spring — a coil

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