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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. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  5. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  6. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. How do you ________________ your surname?
  9. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  13. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  16. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  17. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  23. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  24. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. march — the month
  3. chest — of your body
  4. bore — to tire
  5. spell — magic
  6. branch — a division
  7. chest — of your body
  8. spell — letters
  9. fork — to eat with
  10. chest — a box
  11. tear — to rip
  12. fork — in a road
  13. branch — of a tree
  14. spring — the season
  15. bore — to drill
  16. march — music
  17. march — the month
  18. spring — of water
  19. spell — a short time
  20. spring — a coil
  21. tear — from crying
  22. bore — gave birth
  23. fork — a garden tool
  24. branch — of a bank

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