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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. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  2. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  3. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  4. Did you ________________ the meat?
  5. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  6. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  7. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  11. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. The ________________ market has crashed.

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

Answer key

  1. race — a contest
  2. season — of the year
  3. race — the arms race
  4. season — to add flavour
  5. tear — from crying
  6. season — in sport
  7. race — humankind
  8. capital — money
  9. field — farmland
  10. stock — a soup base
  11. tear — from crying
  12. field — for sport
  13. field — a subject
  14. stock — goods
  15. capital — a city
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. tear — to rip
  18. stock — shares

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