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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: clip · last · chest · game · rash · can · nail · tear

  1. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  4. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. False peace will not ________________.
  10. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  11. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  12. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  13. The ________________ went through the wall.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  16. Don't do anything ________________.
  17. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  18. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  19. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  20. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  21. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  22. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  23. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  24. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. clip — for paper
  3. nail — on a finger
  4. game — a kind of play
  5. chest — of your body
  6. clip — to cut
  7. clip — a video
  8. tear — to rip
  9. last — to go on
  10. rash — a series
  11. can — a tin
  12. last — final
  13. nail — for a hammer
  14. chest — a box
  15. can — a tin
  16. rash — hasty
  17. tear — from crying
  18. nail — for a hammer
  19. game — wild animals
  20. can — to be able to
  21. last — finally
  22. rash — on the skin
  23. chest — of your body
  24. game — a match

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