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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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Word bank
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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: hand · toast · file · spring · lie · tear · cold · wake

  1. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  3. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  6. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  7. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  12. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  13. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  14. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  15. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  16. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  17. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  18. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  19. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. tear — to rip
  3. file — a tool
  4. hand — in cards
  5. lie — an untruth
  6. file — a document
  7. toast — a drink to someone
  8. cold — not warm
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. tear — from crying
  12. spring — a coil
  13. lie — to recline
  14. lie — an untruth
  15. toast — bread
  16. tear — from crying
  17. wake — a trail
  18. wake — before a funeral
  19. wake — to stop sleeping
  20. cold — an illness
  21. toast — the most admired
  22. file — a line of people
  23. spring — the season
  24. spring — of water

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