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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: fan · bat · stem · land · clip · straw · deal · tear

  1. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  2. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  3. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  8. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  9. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  12. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  13. When are we going to ________________?
  14. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  18. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  21. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.

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

Answer key

  1. deal — an agreement
  2. tear — from crying
  3. deal — to handle
  4. bat — the animal
  5. straw — a straw man
  6. clip — a video
  7. stem — to come from
  8. fan — a supporter
  9. land — a country
  10. land — ground
  11. fan — to cool the air
  12. straw — dry grass
  13. land — to come down
  14. straw — to clutch at straws
  15. tear — to rip
  16. clip — for paper
  17. fan — a supporter
  18. stem — of a plant
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. tear — from crying
  21. stem — a stem cell
  22. clip — to cut
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. deal — a big deal

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