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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: ball · tear · bat · straw · lash · kick · chest · content

  1. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  2. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  3. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  4. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  5. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  8. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  9. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  13. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  14. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  18. The King held a masked ________________.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  21. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  24. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. tear — to rip
  3. tear — from crying
  4. straw — dry grass
  5. ball — a great time
  6. chest — of your body
  7. straw — a straw man
  8. kick — a thrill
  9. content — happy
  10. chest — a box
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. kick — with a leg
  13. ball — a round shape
  14. straw — to clutch at straws
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. chest — of your body
  17. lash — to lash out
  18. ball — a dance
  19. bat — the animal
  20. kick — in football
  21. lash — an eyelash
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. content — the amount
  24. lash — a whip stroke

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