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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 116 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. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  3. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  4. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  5. My mare is ________________ in color.
  6. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  7. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  8. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  9. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  10. The ball is in your ________________.
  11. That must've been a ________________.
  12. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  17. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  18. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  19. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  20. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  21. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  24. Biology is a ________________ of science.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. trunk — of a tree
  3. tear — to rip
  4. rush — to hurry
  5. bay — a horse colour
  6. court — of a king
  7. fork — to eat with
  8. file — a line of people
  9. rush — hurry
  10. court — for sport
  11. rush — a thrill
  12. fork — a garden tool
  13. tear — from crying
  14. bay — to keep at bay
  15. file — a tool
  16. branch — of a tree
  17. court — of law
  18. bay — a part of the sea
  19. branch — of a bank
  20. trunk — of a car
  21. fork — in a road
  22. file — a document
  23. trunk — of an elephant
  24. branch — a division

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