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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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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: nail · ground · bat · march · tear · face · land · snap

  1. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  2. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  5. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  6. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. There's no middle ________________.
  9. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  10. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  11. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  12. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  13. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  16. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  17. The ________________ went through the wall.
  18. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  19. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — to rip
  2. land — ground
  3. land — to come down
  4. snap — to speak sharply
  5. tear — from crying
  6. snap — to click
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. ground — a position
  9. face — to point toward
  10. tear — from crying
  11. march — the month
  12. ground — crushed
  13. face — part of the head
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. nail — for a hammer
  16. ground — the earth
  17. nail — for a hammer
  18. nail — on a finger
  19. snap — to snap out of it
  20. march — the month
  21. march — music
  22. bat — the animal
  23. land — a country
  24. face — to confront

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