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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: bat · track · cold · march · wind · wound · tear · kick

  1. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  6. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  7. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  10. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  11. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  12. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  17. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  18. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. He keeps ________________ of his days.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — in football
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. tear — to rip
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. track — a path
  6. wound — past of 'wind'
  7. wind — moving air
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. tear — from crying
  10. march — the month
  11. wound — an injury
  12. march — the month
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. cold — an illness
  15. bat — the animal
  16. wound — an injury
  17. march — music
  18. kick — with a leg
  19. cold — not warm
  20. kick — a thrill
  21. tear — from crying
  22. track — a song
  23. wind — moving air
  24. track — to keep track

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