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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: tear · kick · snap · march · face · cold · pass · squash

  1. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  2. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  3. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  4. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  5. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  6. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  7. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  10. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  11. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  12. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  13. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  14. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  17. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  18. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  19. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  20. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  21. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  24. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pass — to succeed
  2. squash — the vegetable
  3. face — to confront
  4. kick — a thrill
  5. pass — a permit
  6. kick — with a leg
  7. tear — from crying
  8. cold — an illness
  9. squash — to crush
  10. snap — to click
  11. pass — to spend time
  12. kick — in football
  13. tear — to rip
  14. snap — to snap out of it
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. march — music
  17. squash — the sport
  18. snap — to speak sharply
  19. face — part of the head
  20. face — to point toward
  21. march — the month
  22. cold — not warm
  23. tear — from crying
  24. march — the month

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