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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 can't ________________ this cold.
  2. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  3. Have you met the new head ________________?
  4. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  11. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  12. Have you settled on a ________________?
  13. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  14. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  18. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  19. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  20. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  21. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  22. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  23. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  24. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.

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

Answer key

  1. stand — to bear
  2. tear — from crying
  3. coach — a trainer
  4. current — of water
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. current — electric
  7. cold — an illness
  8. date — the fruit
  9. tear — to rip
  10. drill — a practice
  11. current — happening now
  12. date — on the calendar
  13. stand — on your feet
  14. date — on the calendar
  15. tear — from crying
  16. cold — not warm
  17. bark — of a tree
  18. drill — army training
  19. bark — to shout
  20. drill — the tool
  21. coach — a trainer
  22. coach — pulled by horses
  23. stand — for spectators
  24. bark — a dog's sound

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