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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. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  2. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  3. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  4. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  5. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  6. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  7. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  8. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  12. False peace will not ________________.
  13. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. We're almost out of ________________.
  16. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  17. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  18. That was a fun ________________.
  19. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  20. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  23. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  24. You don't need to ________________ round.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. game — wild animals
  3. march — the month
  4. snap — to speak sharply
  5. last — final
  6. march — the month
  7. snap — to click
  8. race — a contest
  9. bat — the animal
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. snap — to snap out of it
  12. last — to go on
  13. game — a kind of play
  14. tear — to rip
  15. pop — soda
  16. tear — from crying
  17. pop — music
  18. game — a match
  19. march — music
  20. race — the arms race
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. last — finally
  23. race — humankind
  24. pop — to visit

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