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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. The ________________ took off on time.
  3. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  4. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  5. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  6. I'll be taking the ________________.
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  13. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  14. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  15. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  16. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  17. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  18. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  19. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  20. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  24. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. plane — an aircraft
  3. fork — a garden tool
  4. wound — an injury
  5. tear — from crying
  6. tube — the underground
  7. wound — an injury
  8. plane — in geometry
  9. clip — for paper
  10. fork — to eat with
  11. hand — in cards
  12. tear — to rip
  13. hand — help
  14. net — in sport
  15. tube — a container
  16. net — after costs
  17. fork — in a road
  18. wound — past of 'wind'
  19. tube — in a tire
  20. net — for catching
  21. clip — to cut
  22. clip — a video
  23. hand — part of the body
  24. plane — a tool

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