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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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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: safe · craft · rest · leaves · clip · bat · mine · tear

  1. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  3. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  4. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  7. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  8. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  9. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  10. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  14. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  18. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  19. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  20. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  21. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  22. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. I would like to have a ________________ here.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. craft — a handicraft
  3. rest — what's left
  4. craft — boats
  5. clip — to cut
  6. tear — from crying
  7. leaves — of a tree
  8. safe — out of danger
  9. leaves — lets stay
  10. mine — for digging
  11. tear — to rip
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. leaves — to go away
  14. tear — from crying
  15. clip — a video
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. craft — a skill
  18. rest — what's left
  19. safe — out of danger
  20. safe — a strongbox
  21. mine — an explosive
  22. mine — belonging to me
  23. bat — the animal
  24. rest — a break

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