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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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: bat · tear · race · spring · kid · club

  1. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  2. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  12. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  15. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  18. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  2. tear — to rip
  3. spring — the season
  4. club — for dancing
  5. spring — a coil
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. kid — to tease
  8. bat — the animal
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. spring — of water
  11. club — a group
  12. race — the arms race
  13. tear — from crying
  14. race — a contest
  15. tear — from crying
  16. kid — child
  17. race — humankind
  18. club — for golf

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