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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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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: nail · ball · wind · leaves · tear · cell · spell · wound

  1. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  4. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  5. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  6. He was locked up in a ________________.
  7. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  8. The King held a masked ________________.
  9. How do you ________________ your surname?
  10. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  11. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  12. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  13. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  14. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  15. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  16. The ________________ went through the wall.
  17. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  18. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  19. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  20. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  21. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  22. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. wind — moving air
  3. nail — on a finger
  4. leaves — lets stay
  5. ball — a round shape
  6. cell — in a prison
  7. cell — a phone
  8. ball — a dance
  9. spell — letters
  10. wind — to turn a key
  11. leaves — to go away
  12. tear — to rip
  13. ball — a great time
  14. leaves — of a tree
  15. spell — magic
  16. nail — for a hammer
  17. nail — for a hammer
  18. spell — a short time
  19. wound — past of 'wind'
  20. cell — in biology
  21. tear — from crying
  22. wound — an injury
  23. wind — moving air
  24. tear — from crying

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