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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: spell · root · ground · bat · roll · plane · fan · tear

  1. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  5. We're on a ________________ here.
  6. How do you ________________ your surname?
  7. The ________________ took off on time.
  8. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  14. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  15. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  16. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  17. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  18. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  19. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  20. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  21. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  22. There's no middle ________________.
  23. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  24. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.

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

Answer key

  1. roll — a cake
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. bat — the animal
  4. tear — from crying
  5. roll — on a roll
  6. spell — letters
  7. plane — an aircraft
  8. ground — the earth
  9. tear — to rip
  10. tear — from crying
  11. fan — a supporter
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. plane — a tool
  14. ground — crushed
  15. root — of a plant
  16. root — of a word
  17. root — the cause
  18. fan — to cool the air
  19. spell — a short time
  20. spell — magic
  21. roll — a list
  22. ground — a position
  23. plane — in geometry
  24. fan — a supporter

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