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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: squash · bat · cell · wound · stick · track · tear · spring

  1. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  6. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  7. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  8. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  9. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  10. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  13. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  14. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  15. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  16. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. He was locked up in a ________________.
  21. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  24. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. wound — an injury
  4. spring — a coil
  5. squash — to crush
  6. track — to keep track
  7. stick — a piece of wood
  8. cell — a phone
  9. squash — the sport
  10. squash — the vegetable
  11. spring — the season
  12. track — a path
  13. stick — a piece of wood
  14. wound — an injury
  15. track — a song
  16. wound — past of 'wind'
  17. cell — in biology
  18. bat — the animal
  19. spring — of water
  20. cell — in a prison
  21. tear — to rip
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. tear — from crying
  24. stick — to attach or keep to

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