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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. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  6. False peace will not ________________.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  12. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  13. Have you found your soul ________________?
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  17. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  18. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  21. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  22. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  23. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  24. He was blown up by a land ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. last — final
  3. degree — from a university
  4. clip — for paper
  5. calf — of the leg
  6. last — to go on
  7. clip — a video
  8. mate — to breed
  9. mine — for digging
  10. degree — temperature
  11. leaves — of a tree
  12. calf — a young animal
  13. mate — a partner
  14. clip — to cut
  15. tear — to rip
  16. last — finally
  17. mate — a friend
  18. mine — belonging to me
  19. degree — an amount
  20. calf — a young animal
  21. leaves — lets stay
  22. tear — from crying
  23. leaves — to go away
  24. mine — an explosive

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