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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. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  3. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  4. That was a fun ________________.
  5. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  6. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  11. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  12. Have you found your soul ________________?
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  15. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  16. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  19. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  24. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. chair — a professorship
  3. root — of a word
  4. game — a match
  5. tear — to rip
  6. mate — a friend
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. straw — a straw man
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. lash — a whip stroke
  11. lash — an eyelash
  12. mate — a partner
  13. tear — from crying
  14. root — of a plant
  15. mate — to breed
  16. lash — to lash out
  17. cold — an illness
  18. chair — to sit on
  19. chair — a leader
  20. cold — not warm
  21. root — the cause
  22. game — wild animals
  23. straw — to clutch at straws
  24. game — a kind of play

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