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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. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  2. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  3. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  4. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  5. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  6. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  7. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  8. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  9. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  10. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  11. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  12. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  13. He is an ace ________________.
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  18. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  19. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  20. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  21. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  22. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  23. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  24. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.

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

Answer key

  1. net — in sport
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. trunk — of an elephant
  4. tear — from crying
  5. trunk — of a car
  6. file — a tool
  7. net — for catching
  8. net — after costs
  9. wound — an injury
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. race — the arms race
  12. race — a contest
  13. pitcher — in baseball
  14. file — a document
  15. deal — a big deal
  16. file — a line of people
  17. tear — from crying
  18. tear — to rip
  19. deal — an agreement
  20. race — humankind
  21. wound — an injury
  22. wound — past of 'wind'
  23. trunk — of a tree
  24. deal — to handle

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