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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: pitcher · bat · stem · mouse · rest · chest · tear · cold

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  3. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  4. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  8. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  9. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  13. He is an ace ________________.
  14. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  15. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  18. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  19. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  22. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  23. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. tear — to rip
  3. mouse — the animal
  4. mouse — the animal
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. chest — of your body
  7. stem — of a plant
  8. stem — to come from
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. chest — of your body
  12. rest — a break
  13. pitcher — in baseball
  14. tear — from crying
  15. mouse — for a computer
  16. bat — the animal
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. stem — a stem cell
  19. rest — what's left
  20. cold — not warm
  21. rest — what's left
  22. tear — from crying
  23. chest — a box
  24. cold — the Cold War

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