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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: racket · mark · bat · race · cold · tear · pop · rock

  1. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  2. You don't need to ________________ round.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  5. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  8. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  12. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  15. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  16. We're almost out of ________________.
  17. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  18. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  19. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  20. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  21. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  22. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. He hit the ball with his ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. pop — to visit
  3. cold — not warm
  4. mark — a trace
  5. race — a contest
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. pop — music
  8. racket — a loud noise
  9. bat — the animal
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. rock — music
  12. tear — to rip
  13. cold — an illness
  14. racket — for tennis
  15. tear — from crying
  16. pop — soda
  17. mark — a grade
  18. race — the arms race
  19. rock — to move gently
  20. rock — a stone
  21. mark — to pay attention
  22. race — humankind
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. racket — for tennis

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