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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. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  3. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  4. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  5. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  6. Have you found your soul ________________?
  7. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  8. He was locked up in a ________________.
  9. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  14. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  15. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  16. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  19. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  20. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  21. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  24. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — in an idiom
  2. fine — high quality
  3. drill — the tool
  4. drill — a practice
  5. tear — from crying
  6. mate — a partner
  7. tear — to rip
  8. cell — in a prison
  9. mate — a friend
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. cell — a phone
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. tear — from crying
  14. branch — a division
  15. fine — a penalty
  16. fine — all right
  17. cell — in biology
  18. mate — to breed
  19. drill — army training
  20. wound — an injury
  21. wound — an injury
  22. bat — the animal
  23. branch — of a tree
  24. branch — of a bank

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