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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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: cold · temple · tear · march · hide · object

  1. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  4. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  5. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  6. When was this ________________ built?
  7. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  8. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  9. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  12. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  13. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  16. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  17. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  18. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — to rip
  2. cold — not warm
  3. object — a thing
  4. temple — a place of worship
  5. temple — side of the head
  6. temple — a place of worship
  7. hide — to keep secret
  8. hide — to keep secret
  9. march — music
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. march — the month
  12. object — an aim
  13. hide — animal skin
  14. cold — an illness
  15. object — to protest
  16. tear — from crying
  17. march — the month
  18. tear — from crying

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