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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: last · game · mine · foot · tear · clip · root · pound

  1. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  2. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  5. False peace will not ________________.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  10. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  11. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  12. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  13. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  14. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  15. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  16. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  17. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  18. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  19. That was a fun ________________.
  20. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  21. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  22. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  23. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  24. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — to rip
  2. root — of a word
  3. clip — to cut
  4. mine — an explosive
  5. last — to go on
  6. clip — for paper
  7. last — final
  8. clip — a video
  9. tear — from crying
  10. game — wild animals
  11. foot — a measure
  12. foot — the bottom
  13. mine — for digging
  14. pound — a weight
  15. pound — for dogs
  16. root — of a plant
  17. root — the cause
  18. last — finally
  19. game — a match
  20. foot — part of the body
  21. tear — from crying
  22. pound — to hit hard
  23. mine — belonging to me
  24. game — a kind of play

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