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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. The ________________ went through the wall.
  2. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  5. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  8. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  17. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  18. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.

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

Answer key

  1. nail — for a hammer
  2. tear — from crying
  3. field — a subject
  4. tear — from crying
  5. board — a committee
  6. wound — an injury
  7. straw — to clutch at straws
  8. board — to get on
  9. field — farmland
  10. nail — on a finger
  11. tear — to rip
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. wound — an injury
  14. board — a flat piece
  15. field — for sport
  16. wound — past of 'wind'
  17. straw — dry grass
  18. nail — for a hammer

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