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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: game · stem · tear · last · bat · kid

  1. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  2. That was a fun ________________.
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  5. False peace will not ________________.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  9. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  10. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  11. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  17. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  18. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — to rip
  2. game — a match
  3. game — wild animals
  4. last — finally
  5. last — to go on
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. stem — to come from
  9. last — final
  10. stem — of a plant
  11. tear — from crying
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. kid — to tease
  14. bat — the animal
  15. kid — child
  16. tear — from crying
  17. stem — a stem cell
  18. game — a kind of play

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