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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: hand · dip · wind · cell · perch · bat · tear · mate

  1. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  2. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  3. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  4. Have you found your soul ________________?
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  7. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  8. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  9. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  10. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  11. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  14. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  15. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  16. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  23. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  24. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. hand — in cards
  3. mate — to breed
  4. mate — a partner
  5. bat — the animal
  6. perch — for a bird
  7. perch — the fish
  8. wind — moving air
  9. cell — a phone
  10. tear — to rip
  11. mate — a friend
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. cell — in biology
  14. dip — a sauce
  15. dip — to dunk
  16. hand — help
  17. cell — in a prison
  18. wind — moving air
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. tear — from crying
  22. dip — to sink
  23. wind — to turn a key
  24. tear — from crying

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