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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 116 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: court · rash · bear · wound · tear · cell · lash · content

  1. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  2. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  3. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  7. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  8. Don't do anything ________________.
  9. The ball is in your ________________.
  10. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  11. He was locked up in a ________________.
  12. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  13. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  14. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  15. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  16. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  17. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  19. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  20. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  21. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  22. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  23. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  24. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. lash — to lash out
  3. wound — past of 'wind'
  4. content — happy
  5. wound — an injury
  6. cell — in biology
  7. lash — a whip stroke
  8. rash — hasty
  9. court — for sport
  10. court — of law
  11. cell — in a prison
  12. court — of a king
  13. bear — to put up with
  14. bear — the animal
  15. bear — the animal
  16. content — the amount
  17. cell — a phone
  18. content — videos and posts
  19. tear — to rip
  20. wound — an injury
  21. lash — an eyelash
  22. rash — on the skin
  23. tear — from crying
  24. rash — a series

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