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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 120 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: tear · spell · kid · snap · bat · race · calf · shower

  1. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  4. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  5. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  10. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  14. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  15. How do you ________________ your surname?
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  18. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  21. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  22. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to snap out of it
  2. bat — the animal
  3. spell — magic
  4. tear — from crying
  5. snap — to speak sharply
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. shower — to wash
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. spell — a short time
  10. race — the arms race
  11. tear — to rip
  12. shower — rain
  13. race — a contest
  14. tear — from crying
  15. spell — letters
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. race — humankind
  18. snap — to click
  19. kid — child
  20. calf — of the leg
  21. calf — a young animal
  22. calf — a young animal
  23. kid — to tease
  24. bat — in an idiom

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