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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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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: bat · row · ball · net · mine · bulb · tear · hand

  1. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  2. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  5. The King held a masked ________________.
  6. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  7. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  8. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  13. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  14. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  15. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  18. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  21. I've got to change the light ________________.
  22. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  23. The light ________________ burned out.
  24. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — in cards
  2. tear — from crying
  3. bat — the animal
  4. row — to paddle
  5. ball — a dance
  6. row — a quarrel
  7. tear — to rip
  8. tear — from crying
  9. mine — for digging
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. net — after costs
  13. net — in sport
  14. ball — a round shape
  15. hand — help
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. mine — belonging to me
  18. net — for catching
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. bulb — of a plant
  21. bulb — for light
  22. ball — a great time
  23. bulb — for light
  24. row — a line

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