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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: chest · lie · bat · foot · tear · bear

  1. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  4. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  9. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  10. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  15. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  16. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.

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

Answer key

  1. foot — a measure
  2. bat — the animal
  3. lie — to recline
  4. bear — to put up with
  5. chest — of your body
  6. tear — to rip
  7. chest — a box
  8. tear — from crying
  9. lie — an untruth
  10. foot — part of the body
  11. chest — of your body
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. tear — from crying
  14. foot — the bottom
  15. bear — the animal
  16. bear — the animal
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. lie — an untruth

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