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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 124 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. David sat on the ________________.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  4. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  7. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. Did you ________________ the meat?
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  16. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  17. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  18. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  21. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  22. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  23. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  24. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — to play on
  2. field — a subject
  3. tear — from crying
  4. tear — to rip
  5. field — farmland
  6. season — in sport
  7. patient — a sick person
  8. cold — not warm
  9. lie — an untruth
  10. game — a match
  11. lie — to recline
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. season — to add flavour
  14. cold — an illness
  15. game — wild animals
  16. patient — a sick person
  17. patient — calm and waiting
  18. season — of the year
  19. field — for sport
  20. tear — from crying
  21. swing — in golf
  22. swing — music
  23. lie — an untruth
  24. game — a kind of play

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