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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: tear · chip · game · prune · fall · stick · row · hand

  1. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  2. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  5. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  6. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  11. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  16. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  17. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  20. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  21. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  22. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  24. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — to drop
  2. stick — a piece of wood
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. tear — from crying
  5. row — to paddle
  6. chip — to eat
  7. hand — help
  8. chip — in a computer
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. stick — to attach or keep to
  11. fall — the season
  12. game — a match
  13. stick — a piece of wood
  14. tear — to rip
  15. row — a line
  16. prune — the fruit
  17. chip — for betting
  18. hand — in cards
  19. fall — to drop
  20. prune — to trim
  21. prune — to trim
  22. game — a kind of play
  23. game — wild animals
  24. tear — from crying

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