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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 116 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. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  2. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  3. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  8. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  9. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  10. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. He was locked up in a ________________.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  18. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  21. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  22. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  23. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  24. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. wound — past of 'wind'
  3. firm — a company
  4. spring — the season
  5. firm — decided
  6. tear — to rip
  7. cell — a phone
  8. tear — from crying
  9. race — humankind
  10. wound — an injury
  11. bat — the animal
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. cell — in biology
  14. spring — of water
  15. cell — in a prison
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. wound — an injury
  18. race — a contest
  19. spring — a coil
  20. snap — to click
  21. snap — to speak sharply
  22. firm — steady
  23. snap — to snap out of it
  24. race — the arms race

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