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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: bowl · kick · tear · mine · bat · race · pop · dip

  1. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  2. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  3. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  4. You don't need to ________________ round.
  5. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  6. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  7. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  10. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  11. We're almost out of ________________.
  12. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  13. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  14. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  15. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  22. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  23. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  24. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. race — humankind
  3. tear — from crying
  4. pop — to visit
  5. mine — an explosive
  6. race — the arms race
  7. pop — music
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. race — a contest
  10. dip — to sink
  11. pop — soda
  12. bowl — to roll
  13. kick — in football
  14. bowl — a dish
  15. dip — to dunk
  16. tear — to rip
  17. mine — for digging
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. bat — the animal
  21. kick — with a leg
  22. bowl — a football final
  23. dip — a sauce
  24. kick — a thrill

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