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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 is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  5. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  6. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  7. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  8. How do you ________________ your surname?
  9. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  10. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  11. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  12. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  13. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  18. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  19. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  22. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  23. We're on a ________________ here.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. tear — to rip
  3. spring — the season
  4. roll — a cake
  5. present — there
  6. present — a gift
  7. spring — of water
  8. spell — letters
  9. foot — part of the body
  10. present — the time now
  11. roll — a list
  12. row — to paddle
  13. spell — magic
  14. spring — a coil
  15. foot — the bottom
  16. file — a tool
  17. row — a quarrel
  18. spell — a short time
  19. row — a line
  20. file — a line of people
  21. foot — a measure
  22. tear — from crying
  23. roll — on a roll
  24. file — a document

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