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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: bat · racket · cell · row · tear · pit · sharp · race

  1. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  2. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  5. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  6. It's one o'clock ________________.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  10. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  11. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  14. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  15. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  16. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  17. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  18. He was locked up in a ________________.
  19. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  20. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  24. I had a ________________ with my boss today.

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

Answer key

  1. pit — a fruit stone
  2. racket — for tennis
  3. cell — a phone
  4. tear — to rip
  5. pit — in a race
  6. sharp — exactly
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. racket — a loud noise
  10. tear — from crying
  11. sharp — with an edge
  12. bat — the animal
  13. race — the arms race
  14. row — a line
  15. row — to paddle
  16. racket — for tennis
  17. race — a contest
  18. cell — in a prison
  19. race — humankind
  20. pit — a hole
  21. tear — from crying
  22. cell — in biology
  23. sharp — clever
  24. row — a quarrel

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