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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: rash · cold · tear · perch · pound · hand · file · fall

  1. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  2. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  3. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  4. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  5. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  6. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  7. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  8. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  9. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. Don't do anything ________________.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  17. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  18. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  19. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  24. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — to rip
  2. hand — in cards
  3. fall — to drop
  4. pound — for dogs
  5. perch — for a bird
  6. perch — for a bird
  7. file — a document
  8. rash — on the skin
  9. perch — the fish
  10. hand — help
  11. fall — the season
  12. file — a tool
  13. cold — not warm
  14. rash — hasty
  15. cold — an illness
  16. rash — a series
  17. fall — to drop
  18. tear — from crying
  19. pound — to hit hard
  20. file — a line of people
  21. tear — from crying
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. pound — a weight
  24. hand — part of the body

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