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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 116 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. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  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. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  11. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  17. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  18. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. field — for sport
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. mine — an explosive
  5. cold — an illness
  6. deal — to handle
  7. tear — to rip
  8. tear — from crying
  9. mine — for digging
  10. deal — a big deal
  11. vault — in gymnastics
  12. field — a subject
  13. field — farmland
  14. vault — an arched ceiling
  15. cold — not warm
  16. deal — an agreement
  17. vault — a safe
  18. mine — belonging to me

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