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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. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  2. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  3. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  4. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  5. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  6. He was locked up in a ________________.
  7. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  11. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  12. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  13. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  14. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  18. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  19. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  20. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  21. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  22. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. dip — to dunk
  3. rest — what's left
  4. fork — a garden tool
  5. toast — the most admired
  6. cell — in a prison
  7. rest — a break
  8. land — to come down
  9. land — ground
  10. fork — to eat with
  11. cell — a phone
  12. dip — a sauce
  13. fork — in a road
  14. cell — in biology
  15. tear — from crying
  16. tear — to rip
  17. toast — a drink to someone
  18. toast — bread
  19. dip — to sink
  20. row — a line
  21. rest — what's left
  22. row — a quarrel
  23. land — a country
  24. row — to paddle

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