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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: perch · race · lie · tear · rock · bat · board · cold

  1. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  2. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  5. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  8. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  9. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  10. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  17. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  18. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  19. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  20. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  23. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  24. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. race — a contest
  2. tear — to rip
  3. bat — the animal
  4. lie — an untruth
  5. rock — music
  6. cold — an illness
  7. race — humankind
  8. lie — to recline
  9. rock — a stone
  10. board — to get on
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. cold — not warm
  15. tear — from crying
  16. board — a committee
  17. rock — to move gently
  18. tear — from crying
  19. perch — for a bird
  20. perch — the fish
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. lie — an untruth
  23. board — a flat piece
  24. race — the arms race

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