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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. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  2. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  3. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  8. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  11. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  12. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  15. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  16. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  17. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. He was locked up in a ________________.
  21. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  22. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  23. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  24. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. club — for dancing
  3. cell — in biology
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. club — for golf
  6. cell — a phone
  7. band — a music group
  8. band — a ring
  9. field — a subject
  10. wake — before a funeral
  11. wake — to stop sleeping
  12. wake — a trail
  13. field — farmland
  14. drill — army training
  15. tear — from crying
  16. drill — a practice
  17. band — a rubber band
  18. hand — in cards
  19. field — for sport
  20. cell — in a prison
  21. hand — help
  22. club — a group
  23. tear — to rip
  24. drill — the tool

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