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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. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  5. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  11. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  12. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  13. Don't do anything ________________.
  14. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  15. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  16. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. rash — a series
  3. field — a subject
  4. root — the cause
  5. tear — from crying
  6. cold — not warm
  7. rash — on the skin
  8. cold — an illness
  9. field — for sport
  10. chip — for betting
  11. chip — in a computer
  12. root — of a word
  13. rash — hasty
  14. tear — from crying
  15. chip — to eat
  16. root — of a plant
  17. tear — to rip
  18. cold — the Cold War

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