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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: bat · mine · tear · ground · lash · wound · plane · chip

  1. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  2. There's no middle ________________.
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  9. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  10. The ________________ took off on time.
  11. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  12. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  13. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  14. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  15. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  21. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  24. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — crushed
  2. ground — a position
  3. mine — for digging
  4. wound — an injury
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. lash — an eyelash
  9. chip — to eat
  10. plane — an aircraft
  11. chip — in a computer
  12. lash — to lash out
  13. lash — a whip stroke
  14. plane — a tool
  15. plane — in geometry
  16. tear — to rip
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. tear — from crying
  19. bat — the animal
  20. tear — from crying
  21. chip — for betting
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. wound — an injury
  24. ground — the earth

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