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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. Have you found your soul ________________?
  2. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  3. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  6. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  9. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  10. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  11. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  12. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  16. He is an ace ________________.
  17. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  22. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  23. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  24. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a partner
  2. tear — to rip
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. chest — of your body
  5. tear — from crying
  6. chest — a box
  7. chest — of your body
  8. drill — the tool
  9. mate — to breed
  10. stem — of a plant
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. hide — animal skin
  13. tear — from crying
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. hide — to keep secret
  16. pitcher — in baseball
  17. hide — to keep secret
  18. bat — the animal
  19. stem — to come from
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. drill — a practice
  22. drill — army training
  23. mate — a friend
  24. stem — a stem cell

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