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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: spell · tear · wind · kid · wave · bat · pitch · net

  1. How do you ________________ your surname?
  2. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  5. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  6. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  9. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  10. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  11. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  15. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  16. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  19. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  20. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  21. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  22. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  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. spell — letters
  2. spell — a short time
  3. kid — child
  4. net — after costs
  5. wave — of the sea
  6. pitch — completely
  7. kid — to tease
  8. wave — a sudden rise
  9. tear — from crying
  10. wave — with your hand
  11. pitch — a sales talk
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. wind — moving air
  15. tear — from crying
  16. net — in sport
  17. tear — to rip
  18. wind — to turn a key
  19. wind — moving air
  20. net — for catching
  21. pitch — a sports field
  22. spell — magic
  23. bat — the animal
  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