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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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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: rest · bat · mug · trunk · club · tear · craft · cold

  1. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  2. Where did you ________________ them?
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  7. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  8. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  9. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  10. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  11. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  12. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  13. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  14. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  15. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  16. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  17. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  18. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  19. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  22. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  23. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — in an idiom
  2. mug — to rob
  3. bat — the animal
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. cold — not warm
  6. club — a group
  7. tear — from crying
  8. mug — a cup
  9. rest — a break
  10. rest — what's left
  11. club — for dancing
  12. club — for golf
  13. craft — boats
  14. trunk — of a car
  15. craft — a skill
  16. craft — a handicraft
  17. trunk — of an elephant
  18. tear — to rip
  19. tear — from crying
  20. cold — an illness
  21. mug — a face
  22. rest — what's left
  23. trunk — of a tree
  24. bat — for baseball

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