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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 cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  2. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  3. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  4. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  5. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  8. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  9. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  10. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  13. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  14. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  15. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  20. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  23. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  24. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. wound — an injury
  3. pitch — a sports field
  4. tear — to rip
  5. hide — to keep secret
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. jam — to spread on bread
  8. jam — in traffic
  9. jam — a tight spot
  10. snap — to snap out of it
  11. cold — not warm
  12. hide — animal skin
  13. snap — to speak sharply
  14. wound — an injury
  15. wound — past of 'wind'
  16. capital — money
  17. hide — to keep secret
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. pitch — a sales talk
  20. pitch — completely
  21. cold — an illness
  22. capital — a city
  23. snap — to click
  24. tear — from crying

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