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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 120 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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  6. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  7. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  8. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  11. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  12. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  13. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  14. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  15. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  16. There's no middle ________________.
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  19. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  20. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  21. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  22. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  23. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  24. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — to roll
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. tear — from crying
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. ground — crushed
  6. tear — from crying
  7. snap — to snap out of it
  8. drill — the tool
  9. bat — the animal
  10. bowl — a football final
  11. wake — to stop sleeping
  12. wake — a trail
  13. snap — to click
  14. wake — before a funeral
  15. drill — a practice
  16. ground — a position
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. tear — to rip
  19. snap — to speak sharply
  20. drill — army training
  21. bowl — a dish
  22. straw — dry grass
  23. straw — a straw man
  24. ground — the earth

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