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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. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. That was ________________ to happen.
  23. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  24. Is it ________________ for us to be here?

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

Answer key

  1. tear — to rip
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. mine — for digging
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. safe — out of danger
  6. field — a subject
  7. bound — obliged
  8. spring — a coil
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. clip — a video
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. bat — the animal
  13. clip — for paper
  14. clip — to cut
  15. tear — from crying
  16. field — farmland
  17. bound — tied together
  18. spring — of water
  19. tear — from crying
  20. spring — the season
  21. field — for sport
  22. bound — certain
  23. safe — a strongbox
  24. safe — out of danger

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