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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. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  2. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  8. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  11. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  12. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  17. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  18. Have you settled on a ________________?
  19. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  20. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  23. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  24. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. safe — a strongbox
  2. racket — for tennis
  3. bat — the animal
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. cold — not warm
  6. tear — to rip
  7. safe — out of danger
  8. stem — a stem cell
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. racket — for tennis
  11. tear — from crying
  12. bark — of a tree
  13. cold — an illness
  14. stem — to come from
  15. tear — from crying
  16. bark — a dog's sound
  17. stem — of a plant
  18. date — on the calendar
  19. racket — a loud noise
  20. safe — out of danger
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. bark — to shout
  23. date — the fruit
  24. date — on the calendar

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