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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: content · tear · bat · stem · club · race · hand · ball

  1. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  3. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  9. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  10. The King held a masked ________________.
  11. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  12. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  13. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  14. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  20. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  21. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  22. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  23. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  24. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. hand — in cards
  3. stem — a stem cell
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. tear — to rip
  6. content — happy
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. tear — from crying
  9. race — humankind
  10. ball — a dance
  11. stem — to come from
  12. ball — a round shape
  13. tear — from crying
  14. ball — a great time
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. club — a group
  17. bat — the animal
  18. hand — help
  19. race — a contest
  20. content — the amount
  21. race — the arms race
  22. club — for golf
  23. club — for dancing
  24. stem — of a plant

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