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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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Word bank
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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: wave · bat · tear · ball · march · wound · cell · wake

  1. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  2. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  3. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  4. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  9. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  10. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. The King held a masked ________________.
  13. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  21. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  22. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  23. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — a phone
  2. wake — before a funeral
  3. ball — a great time
  4. march — the month
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. wave — of the sea
  7. wound — an injury
  8. wound — an injury
  9. march — music
  10. wake — to stop sleeping
  11. bat — the animal
  12. ball — a dance
  13. march — the month
  14. tear — to rip
  15. tear — from crying
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. cell — in a prison
  18. wake — a trail
  19. tear — from crying
  20. wound — past of 'wind'
  21. ball — a round shape
  22. wave — with your hand
  23. wave — a sudden rise
  24. cell — in biology

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