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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. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  6. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  7. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  8. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  9. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  10. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  11. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  12. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  13. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  16. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. field — a subject
  3. lie — an untruth
  4. clip — a video
  5. craft — a skill
  6. craft — boats
  7. craft — a handicraft
  8. bark — of a tree
  9. lie — to recline
  10. squash — the vegetable
  11. lie — an untruth
  12. squash — to crush
  13. bark — to shout
  14. degree — temperature
  15. bark — a dog's sound
  16. squash — the sport
  17. degree — from a university
  18. field — farmland
  19. tear — to rip
  20. clip — to cut
  21. degree — an amount
  22. clip — for paper
  23. field — for sport
  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