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

  1. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  2. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  8. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  16. We're almost out of ________________.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. You don't need to ________________ round.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. When are we going to ________________?
  21. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.

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

Answer key

  1. lash — to lash out
  2. mine — belonging to me
  3. land — ground
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. lash — a whip stroke
  6. tear — to rip
  7. pop — music
  8. lash — an eyelash
  9. field — a subject
  10. board — a committee
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. bat — the animal
  13. board — to get on
  14. field — for sport
  15. mine — for digging
  16. pop — soda
  17. land — a country
  18. pop — to visit
  19. tear — from crying
  20. land — to come down
  21. board — a flat piece
  22. field — farmland
  23. bat — in an idiom
  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