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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: dip · safe · tear · squash · wind · cold · land · snap

  1. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  2. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  3. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  10. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  11. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  12. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  13. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  14. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  17. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  18. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  19. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  22. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  23. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  24. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. squash — the sport
  3. snap — to click
  4. cold — an illness
  5. wind — to turn a key
  6. land — to come down
  7. squash — the vegetable
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. dip — a sauce
  10. land — a country
  11. dip — to dunk
  12. safe — out of danger
  13. safe — a strongbox
  14. squash — to crush
  15. tear — to rip
  16. wind — moving air
  17. snap — to snap out of it
  18. safe — out of danger
  19. dip — to sink
  20. cold — not warm
  21. tear — from crying
  22. land — ground
  23. snap — to speak sharply
  24. wind — moving air

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