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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 goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  2. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  5. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  9. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  12. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. Have you met the new head ________________?
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — dry grass
  2. capital — money
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. tear — to rip
  5. snap — to snap out of it
  6. field — for sport
  7. field — farmland
  8. tear — from crying
  9. coach — pulled by horses
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. coach — a trainer
  12. snap — to speak sharply
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. tear — from crying
  15. capital — a city
  16. coach — a trainer
  17. field — a subject
  18. snap — to click

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