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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. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  2. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  3. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  9. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  12. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  13. False peace will not ________________.
  14. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  18. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  19. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  20. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  21. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  22. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  23. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  24. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — to rip
  2. last — finally
  3. game — a kind of play
  4. hand — help
  5. chip — in a computer
  6. game — a match
  7. bat — the animal
  8. hand — in cards
  9. tear — from crying
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. current — of water
  12. chip — to eat
  13. last — to go on
  14. wake — to stop sleeping
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. game — wild animals
  18. last — final
  19. wake — a trail
  20. chip — for betting
  21. wake — before a funeral
  22. tear — from crying
  23. current — electric
  24. current — happening now

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