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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. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  2. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  3. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  4. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  5. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  6. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  7. He is an ace ________________.
  8. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  9. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  14. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  15. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  16. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  17. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  18. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  19. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  22. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  23. The ________________ took off on time.
  24. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.

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

Answer key

  1. racket — for tennis
  2. tear — from crying
  3. racket — for tennis
  4. plane — in geometry
  5. plane — a tool
  6. racket — a loud noise
  7. pitcher — in baseball
  8. drill — a practice
  9. branch — of a bank
  10. tear — from crying
  11. cold — an illness
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. branch — a division
  14. stem — to come from
  15. drill — the tool
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. drill — army training
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. tear — to rip
  20. cold — not warm
  21. stem — a stem cell
  22. stem — of a plant
  23. plane — an aircraft
  24. branch — of a tree

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