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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. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  5. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  6. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  7. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  8. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  9. I'll be taking the ________________.
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  13. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  14. False peace will not ________________.
  15. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  16. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  17. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  18. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  19. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  23. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  24. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. hand — help
  3. hand — in cards
  4. vault — a safe
  5. last — final
  6. tube — a container
  7. vault — an arched ceiling
  8. leaves — to go away
  9. tube — the underground
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. spring — the season
  12. tear — to rip
  13. tear — from crying
  14. last — to go on
  15. leaves — of a tree
  16. staff — employees
  17. tube — in a tire
  18. leaves — lets stay
  19. staff — employees
  20. spring — a coil
  21. spring — of water
  22. staff — a stick
  23. last — finally
  24. vault — in gymnastics

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