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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: cell · land · chip · capital · straw · lie · bat · tear

  1. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  6. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  7. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  10. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  15. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  18. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  19. He was locked up in a ________________.
  20. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  21. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  22. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. 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. tear — from crying
  2. bat — the animal
  3. cell — a phone
  4. land — to come down
  5. chip — in a computer
  6. tear — from crying
  7. lie — an untruth
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. cell — in biology
  10. chip — to eat
  11. land — a country
  12. lie — an untruth
  13. capital — money
  14. straw — a straw man
  15. land — ground
  16. capital — a city
  17. chip — for betting
  18. tear — to rip
  19. cell — in a prison
  20. straw — dry grass
  21. straw — to clutch at straws
  22. lie — to recline
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. 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