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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: wound · tear · lie · land · swing · dip · cold · present

  1. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  2. When are we going to ________________?
  3. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  4. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  5. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  6. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  7. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  8. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  11. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  14. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  15. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  16. David sat on the ________________.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  19. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  20. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  21. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  22. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — in golf
  2. land — to come down
  3. dip — to sink
  4. wound — an injury
  5. tear — to rip
  6. lie — to recline
  7. dip — to dunk
  8. present — there
  9. cold — an illness
  10. lie — an untruth
  11. swing — music
  12. cold — not warm
  13. dip — a sauce
  14. tear — from crying
  15. lie — an untruth
  16. swing — to play on
  17. land — a country
  18. tear — from crying
  19. present — a gift
  20. land — ground
  21. present — the time now
  22. wound — an injury
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. cold — the Cold War

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