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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: tear · bat · mate · nail · bark · race · tube · chest

  1. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  2. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  3. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  6. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  7. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  11. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  12. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  13. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  14. I'll be taking the ________________.
  15. The ________________ went through the wall.
  16. Have you found your soul ________________?
  17. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  18. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  19. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  20. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  21. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — a box
  2. tear — from crying
  3. tear — from crying
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. bark — a dog's sound
  6. nail — on a finger
  7. mate — to breed
  8. chest — of your body
  9. tear — to rip
  10. bark — of a tree
  11. mate — a friend
  12. nail — for a hammer
  13. bark — to shout
  14. tube — the underground
  15. nail — for a hammer
  16. mate — a partner
  17. race — a contest
  18. tube — in a tire
  19. tube — a container
  20. race — the arms race
  21. chest — of your body
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. bat — the animal
  24. race — humankind

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