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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: craft · chest · mark · foot · wound · season · tear · bat

  1. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  2. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  3. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  4. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  5. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  6. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  7. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  8. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. Did you ________________ the meat?
  11. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  12. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  18. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  19. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  20. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. season — of the year
  3. foot — a measure
  4. mark — to pay attention
  5. craft — a handicraft
  6. tear — from crying
  7. craft — boats
  8. chest — a box
  9. bat — the animal
  10. season — to add flavour
  11. season — in sport
  12. mark — a trace
  13. chest — of your body
  14. foot — the bottom
  15. tear — to rip
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. craft — a skill
  18. foot — part of the body
  19. mark — a grade
  20. wound — an injury
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. wound — an injury
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. chest — of your body

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