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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 120 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. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  2. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  3. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  4. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  9. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  13. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  17. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  20. How do you ________________ your surname?
  21. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  22. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — to rip
  2. chip — in a computer
  3. spell — magic
  4. tear — from crying
  5. chest — of your body
  6. drill — army training
  7. cold — an illness
  8. drill — a practice
  9. calf — of the leg
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. tear — from crying
  13. chip — for betting
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. chest — a box
  16. calf — a young animal
  17. chest — of your body
  18. bat — the animal
  19. spell — a short time
  20. spell — letters
  21. chip — to eat
  22. drill — the tool
  23. cold — not warm
  24. calf — a young animal

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