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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: content · craft · wound · ground · bat · tear · rock · bowl

  1. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  2. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  3. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  4. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  5. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  6. There's no middle ________________.
  7. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  8. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  9. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  10. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  13. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  14. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  22. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  23. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  24. We were using a ________________ as a seat.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — to roll
  2. content — videos and posts
  3. ground — crushed
  4. tear — to rip
  5. rock — to move gently
  6. ground — a position
  7. craft — a handicraft
  8. content — happy
  9. bowl — a dish
  10. tear — from crying
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. wound — an injury
  13. content — the amount
  14. ground — the earth
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. wound — an injury
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. craft — boats
  19. tear — from crying
  20. bat — the animal
  21. craft — a skill
  22. rock — music
  23. bowl — a football final
  24. rock — a stone

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