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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. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  2. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  5. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  6. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  7. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  8. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  9. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  10. I'll be taking the ________________.
  11. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  12. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  15. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  20. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  21. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  22. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  23. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  24. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — of ice
  2. tear — to rip
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. can — to be able to
  5. wind — moving air
  6. can — a tin
  7. tube — in a tire
  8. wind — moving air
  9. wound — an injury
  10. tube — the underground
  11. pitch — a sports field
  12. tear — from crying
  13. clip — to cut
  14. wound — past of 'wind'
  15. cap — a hat
  16. clip — for paper
  17. cap — a lid
  18. clip — a video
  19. pitch — completely
  20. can — a tin
  21. wound — an injury
  22. tear — from crying
  23. tube — a container
  24. pitch — a sales talk

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