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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: hand · tear · race · date · bat · scale · bulb · ground

  1. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  2. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  3. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  4. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  8. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  9. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  14. Have you settled on a ________________?
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  17. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  18. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  19. There's no middle ________________.
  20. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  21. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  22. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  23. The light ________________ burned out.
  24. I've got to change the light ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — to rip
  2. tear — from crying
  3. scale — size or range
  4. scale — in music
  5. bat — the animal
  6. hand — in cards
  7. ground — crushed
  8. scale — for weighing
  9. race — humankind
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. date — the fruit
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. bulb — of a plant
  14. date — on the calendar
  15. tear — from crying
  16. race — a contest
  17. ground — the earth
  18. hand — part of the body
  19. ground — a position
  20. date — on the calendar
  21. race — the arms race
  22. hand — help
  23. bulb — for light
  24. bulb — for light

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