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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: lean · game · leaves · bat · capital · roll · tear · file

  1. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  2. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  4. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  5. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  8. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  9. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  10. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  11. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  19. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  20. We're on a ________________ here.
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. leaves — to go away
  4. lean — to rest against
  5. roll — a list
  6. game — a match
  7. tear — to rip
  8. lean — to bend
  9. lean — thin
  10. file — a document
  11. tear — from crying
  12. bat — the animal
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. leaves — of a tree
  15. capital — a city
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. leaves — lets stay
  18. file — a tool
  19. roll — a cake
  20. roll — on a roll
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. capital — money
  23. game — wild animals
  24. file — a line of people

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