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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. When are we going to ________________?
  2. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  3. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  4. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  5. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  6. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  7. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  10. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  11. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  12. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. That must've been a ________________.
  19. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. capital — money
  3. fan — a supporter
  4. fall — the season
  5. rush — hurry
  6. tear — from crying
  7. tear — to rip
  8. field — for sport
  9. tear — from crying
  10. fall — to drop
  11. fan — a supporter
  12. rush — to hurry
  13. degree — from a university
  14. degree — temperature
  15. fan — to cool the air
  16. capital — a city
  17. land — ground
  18. rush — a thrill
  19. fall — to drop
  20. field — farmland
  21. degree — an amount
  22. field — a subject
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. land — a country

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