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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: nail · ground · cell · land · tear · clip · mate · hand

  1. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  6. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  7. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  8. There's no middle ________________.
  9. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  12. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  13. He was locked up in a ________________.
  14. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  20. Have you found your soul ________________?
  21. The ________________ went through the wall.
  22. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. Do you need a ________________ with that?

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. clip — to cut
  3. cell — a phone
  4. land — to come down
  5. land — ground
  6. ground — the earth
  7. tear — to rip
  8. ground — a position
  9. tear — from crying
  10. clip — a video
  11. nail — for a hammer
  12. nail — on a finger
  13. cell — in a prison
  14. ground — crushed
  15. clip — for paper
  16. mate — a friend
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. hand — in cards
  19. land — a country
  20. mate — a partner
  21. nail — for a hammer
  22. mate — to breed
  23. cell — in biology
  24. hand — help

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