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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. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  3. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  4. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  5. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  6. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  7. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  8. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  9. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  10. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  11. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  16. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  17. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  18. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  19. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  23. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. chair — a leader
  3. lie — to recline
  4. chair — a professorship
  5. lie — an untruth
  6. chair — to sit on
  7. mine — an explosive
  8. net — in sport
  9. tear — from crying
  10. spring — the season
  11. tear — from crying
  12. spring — of water
  13. net — after costs
  14. mine — for digging
  15. bass — the fish
  16. bass — low music
  17. bass — the instrument
  18. mine — belonging to me
  19. net — for catching
  20. tear — to rip
  21. field — a subject
  22. lie — an untruth
  23. field — farmland
  24. spring — a coil

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