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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 120 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. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  3. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  6. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  9. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  10. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  11. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  12. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  16. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  17. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  18. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  19. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. shower — a meteor shower
  3. hide — to keep secret
  4. kid — to tease
  5. tear — from crying
  6. board — to get on
  7. shower — to wash
  8. hide — animal skin
  9. cap — a lid
  10. kid — child
  11. cap — a hat
  12. perch — for a bird
  13. field — for sport
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. cap — of ice
  16. perch — for a bird
  17. board — a flat piece
  18. board — a committee
  19. perch — the fish
  20. tear — to rip
  21. field — farmland
  22. hide — to keep secret
  23. shower — rain
  24. tear — from crying

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