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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: wind · tear · arm · cell · ground · trunk · swing · net

  1. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  2. David sat on the ________________.
  3. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  6. There's no middle ________________.
  7. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  8. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  9. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  10. My father caught me by the ________________.
  11. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  12. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  13. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  14. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  17. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  19. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  20. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  21. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  24. He took the fish out of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — to rip
  2. swing — to play on
  3. tear — from crying
  4. cell — a phone
  5. swing — music
  6. ground — a position
  7. trunk — of a tree
  8. wind — moving air
  9. ground — the earth
  10. arm — part of the body
  11. arm — a part of something
  12. ground — crushed
  13. net — in sport
  14. wind — moving air
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. swing — in golf
  17. trunk — of a car
  18. cell — in biology
  19. trunk — of an elephant
  20. tear — from crying
  21. arm — part of the body
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. net — after costs
  24. net — for catching

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