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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. False peace will not ________________.
  2. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  3. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. I've got to change the light ________________.
  6. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  7. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. The light ________________ burned out.
  13. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  16. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  17. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  18. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  24. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. last — to go on
  2. pound — a weight
  3. last — finally
  4. field — for sport
  5. bulb — for light
  6. tear — from crying
  7. capital — money
  8. field — a subject
  9. bulb — of a plant
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. tear — to rip
  12. bulb — for light
  13. pound — to hit hard
  14. cold — not warm
  15. last — final
  16. pound — for dogs
  17. band — a rubber band
  18. tear — from crying
  19. capital — a city
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. field — farmland
  22. cold — an illness
  23. band — a ring
  24. band — a music group

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