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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: spring · rule · straw · tear · pit · squash

  1. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  2. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  3. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  4. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  5. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  6. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  7. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  10. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  13. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  14. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  15. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  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. rule — a law
  2. pit — a fruit stone
  3. straw — to clutch at straws
  4. straw — dry grass
  5. pit — a hole
  6. rule — to rule out
  7. squash — to crush
  8. tear — to rip
  9. squash — the vegetable
  10. pit — in a race
  11. spring — the season
  12. tear — from crying
  13. squash — the sport
  14. straw — a straw man
  15. rule — government
  16. spring — a coil
  17. spring — of water
  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