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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: fall · mate · fan · game · kid · tear · dip · bat

  1. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  2. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  3. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  4. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  7. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  8. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  11. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  12. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  13. That was a fun ________________.
  14. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. Have you found your soul ________________?
  20. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  21. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  22. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  24. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — to cool the air
  2. tear — from crying
  3. tear — to rip
  4. game — a kind of play
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. fan — a supporter
  7. mate — a friend
  8. dip — a sauce
  9. bat — the animal
  10. fall — to drop
  11. mate — to breed
  12. dip — to sink
  13. game — a match
  14. fall — to drop
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. kid — to tease
  17. dip — to dunk
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. mate — a partner
  20. fan — a supporter
  21. tear — from crying
  22. kid — child
  23. game — wild animals
  24. fall — the season

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