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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 120 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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  3. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  4. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  5. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  8. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  9. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  10. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  11. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  12. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  17. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  18. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  23. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  24. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. march — the month
  3. march — music
  4. tear — from crying
  5. mouse — the animal
  6. wound — an injury
  7. vault — in gymnastics
  8. vault — an arched ceiling
  9. march — the month
  10. mouse — for a computer
  11. row — a quarrel
  12. row — a line
  13. tear — from crying
  14. wound — an injury
  15. tear — to rip
  16. rule — to rule out
  17. kid — child
  18. wound — past of 'wind'
  19. row — to paddle
  20. rule — government
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. mouse — the animal
  23. vault — a safe
  24. rule — a law

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