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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 120 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: cell · wind · board · bat · tear · kick

  1. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  2. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. He was locked up in a ________________.
  5. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  11. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  12. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  13. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  16. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  17. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  18. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — a thrill
  2. tear — from crying
  3. bat — the animal
  4. cell — in a prison
  5. tear — from crying
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. wind — moving air
  9. tear — to rip
  10. kick — in football
  11. board — a committee
  12. board — a flat piece
  13. kick — with a leg
  14. cell — a phone
  15. wind — moving air
  16. cell — in biology
  17. board — to get on
  18. wind — to turn a key

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