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

Word bank: wind · bat · mate · net · tear · rest

  1. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  2. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  3. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  4. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. Have you found your soul ________________?
  7. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  10. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  11. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  12. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a friend
  2. rest — what's left
  3. net — in sport
  4. tear — from crying
  5. bat — the animal
  6. mate — a partner
  7. wind — moving air
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. mate — to breed
  10. net — after costs
  11. rest — what's left
  12. net — for catching
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. rest — a break
  15. tear — to rip
  16. tear — from crying
  17. wind — moving air
  18. bat — for baseball

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