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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. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  2. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  3. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  4. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  5. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  6. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  7. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  8. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  13. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  17. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  18. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  19. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  20. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. We're on a ________________ here.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. straw — a straw man
  3. roll — a cake
  4. tear — from crying
  5. perch — for a bird
  6. scale — in music
  7. scale — size or range
  8. mine — an explosive
  9. mine — for digging
  10. perch — for a bird
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. perch — the fish
  13. jam — in traffic
  14. tear — to rip
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. scale — for weighing
  17. jam — to spread on bread
  18. mine — belonging to me
  19. roll — a list
  20. jam — a tight spot
  21. spring — of water
  22. spring — a coil
  23. roll — on a roll
  24. spring — the season

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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