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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: kid · wound · drill · ground · bat · calf · tear · object

  1. There's no middle ________________.
  2. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  3. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  4. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  5. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  6. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  13. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  14. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  15. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  16. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  17. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  18. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  19. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  20. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  23. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  24. This looks like a gunshot ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — a position
  2. wound — an injury
  3. tear — to rip
  4. calf — a young animal
  5. drill — a practice
  6. kid — to tease
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. tear — from crying
  11. bat — the animal
  12. ground — the earth
  13. ground — crushed
  14. object — a thing
  15. drill — army training
  16. drill — the tool
  17. tear — from crying
  18. object — to protest
  19. object — an aim
  20. calf — a young animal
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. calf — of the leg
  23. kid — child
  24. wound — an injury

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