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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: land · tear · cold · lash · bat · ball · coach · pop

  1. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  2. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. We're almost out of ________________.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  7. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  8. You don't need to ________________ round.
  9. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  10. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  11. Have you met the new head ________________?
  12. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. When are we going to ________________?
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. The King held a masked ________________.
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  19. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. ball — a round shape
  3. bat — the animal
  4. pop — soda
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. pop — music
  7. lash — a whip stroke
  8. pop — to visit
  9. lash — to lash out
  10. coach — pulled by horses
  11. coach — a trainer
  12. tear — from crying
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. land — to come down
  15. cold — not warm
  16. ball — a dance
  17. land — ground
  18. ball — a great time
  19. tear — to rip
  20. cold — an illness
  21. lash — an eyelash
  22. land — a country
  23. coach — a trainer
  24. bat — for baseball

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