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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 120 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: stem · bat · wound · last · race · shower · tear · perch

  1. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  2. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  3. False peace will not ________________.
  4. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  7. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  11. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  12. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  15. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  16. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  19. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  20. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  21. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  22. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — in an idiom
  2. last — finally
  3. last — to go on
  4. race — the arms race
  5. shower — rain
  6. stem — a stem cell
  7. shower — a meteor shower
  8. bat — the animal
  9. tear — to rip
  10. wound — an injury
  11. wound — an injury
  12. perch — the fish
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. last — final
  15. stem — of a plant
  16. race — a contest
  17. shower — to wash
  18. perch — for a bird
  19. race — humankind
  20. stem — to come from
  21. perch — for a bird
  22. tear — from crying
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. tear — from crying

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