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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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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: tear · hand · wound · rest · content · kick · race · pitch

  1. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  2. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  3. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  6. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  7. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  8. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  9. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  10. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  11. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  12. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  15. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  16. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  17. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  18. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  19. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  20. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  21. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  22. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  23. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  24. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.

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

Answer key

  1. race — humankind
  2. pitch — a sales talk
  3. tear — from crying
  4. hand — help
  5. wound — past of 'wind'
  6. rest — a break
  7. kick — a thrill
  8. rest — what's left
  9. pitch — a sports field
  10. hand — in cards
  11. race — a contest
  12. content — happy
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. content — videos and posts
  15. content — the amount
  16. kick — in football
  17. rest — what's left
  18. wound — an injury
  19. wound — an injury
  20. tear — from crying
  21. tear — to rip
  22. race — the arms race
  23. pitch — completely
  24. kick — with a leg

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