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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. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  4. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  7. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. I'll be taking the ________________.
  12. How do you ________________ your surname?
  13. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  14. Did you ________________ the button?
  15. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  16. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  17. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  18. The ________________ market has crashed.
  19. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  20. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  21. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  22. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  23. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  24. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. field — farmland
  3. spell — a short time
  4. stock — goods
  5. field — for sport
  6. tube — in a tire
  7. spell — magic
  8. tear — to rip
  9. stock — a soup base
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. tube — the underground
  12. spell — letters
  13. tear — from crying
  14. press — to push
  15. scale — for weighing
  16. press — a publisher
  17. scale — in music
  18. stock — shares
  19. tear — from crying
  20. scale — size or range
  21. hand — help
  22. press — newspapers
  23. hand — in cards
  24. tube — a container

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