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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: bat · lean · ground · tear · pound · clip · race · key

  1. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  2. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  3. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  4. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  5. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  6. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  11. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  12. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  13. This piece is in a major ________________.
  14. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  15. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  16. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  17. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. There's no middle ________________.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  24. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — the earth
  2. pound — to hit hard
  3. lean — thin
  4. tear — to rip
  5. tear — from crying
  6. key — the most important part
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. clip — a video
  10. lean — to bend
  11. key — for a lock
  12. lean — to rest against
  13. key — in music
  14. tear — from crying
  15. race — humankind
  16. ground — crushed
  17. pound — a weight
  18. clip — to cut
  19. ground — a position
  20. clip — for paper
  21. race — the arms race
  22. bat — the animal
  23. pound — for dogs
  24. race — a contest

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