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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  2. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  3. He was locked up in a ________________.
  4. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  5. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  8. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  9. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  10. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  11. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  14. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — a phone
  2. drill — a practice
  3. cell — in a prison
  4. prune — to trim
  5. drill — the tool
  6. field — for sport
  7. drill — army training
  8. tear — from crying
  9. prune — the fruit
  10. cell — in biology
  11. wind — moving air
  12. field — a subject
  13. tear — to rip
  14. wind — to turn a key
  15. tear — from crying
  16. field — farmland
  17. prune — to trim
  18. wind — moving air

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