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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 got dealt a bad ________________.
  2. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  3. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  6. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  12. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  13. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  14. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  17. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  20. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  24. She's sitting on a gold ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — in cards
  2. pound — for dogs
  3. dip — to sink
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. content — the amount
  6. hand — part of the body
  7. content — happy
  8. tear — to rip
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. hand — help
  11. patient — calm and waiting
  12. patient — a sick person
  13. content — videos and posts
  14. pound — to hit hard
  15. tear — from crying
  16. dip — to dunk
  17. patient — a sick person
  18. clip — a video
  19. pound — a weight
  20. dip — a sauce
  21. clip — to cut
  22. clip — for paper
  23. tear — from crying
  24. mine — for digging

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