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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: tear · cold · capital · bat · club · object

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  5. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  8. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  12. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  17. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  18. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. tear — to rip
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. club — for dancing
  5. club — a group
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. club — for golf
  8. object — to protest
  9. capital — a city
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. object — an aim
  12. tear — from crying
  13. bat — the animal
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. capital — money
  16. object — a thing
  17. tear — from crying
  18. cold — not warm

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