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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. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  2. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  3. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  4. How do you ________________ your surname?
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  7. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  8. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  9. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  10. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  11. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  12. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  13. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  14. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  15. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  16. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  21. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  22. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — in an idiom
  2. tear — to rip
  3. tear — from crying
  4. spell — letters
  5. cold — not warm
  6. tear — from crying
  7. spell — magic
  8. net — for catching
  9. lash — a whip stroke
  10. scale — for weighing
  11. net — after costs
  12. lash — to lash out
  13. scale — in music
  14. lash — an eyelash
  15. fall — to drop
  16. fall — the season
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. spell — a short time
  19. cold — an illness
  20. fall — to drop
  21. scale — size or range
  22. net — in sport
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. bat — the animal

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