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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. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  4. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  7. There's no middle ________________.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  10. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  11. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  14. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  15. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  16. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  17. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  18. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  19. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  20. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.

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

Answer key

  1. drill — a practice
  2. clip — to cut
  3. drill — the tool
  4. ground — crushed
  5. cold — an illness
  6. branch — of a bank
  7. ground — a position
  8. cold — not warm
  9. wave — a sudden rise
  10. face — to confront
  11. wave — of the sea
  12. clip — for paper
  13. branch — of a tree
  14. branch — a division
  15. wave — with your hand
  16. tear — from crying
  17. ground — the earth
  18. drill — army training
  19. face — to point toward
  20. tear — from crying
  21. clip — a video
  22. face — part of the head
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. tear — to rip

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