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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. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. The ________________ went through the wall.
  3. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  4. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  5. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  6. We're almost out of ________________.
  7. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  8. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  9. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  12. You don't need to ________________ round.
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  20. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  21. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  22. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  23. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  24. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. nail — for a hammer
  3. stem — to come from
  4. tear — from crying
  5. stem — a stem cell
  6. pop — soda
  7. tear — from crying
  8. straw — a straw man
  9. nail — on a finger
  10. field — farmland
  11. stem — of a plant
  12. pop — to visit
  13. land — ground
  14. land — a country
  15. field — for sport
  16. tear — to rip
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. land — to come down
  19. scale — in music
  20. scale — size or range
  21. pop — music
  22. scale — for weighing
  23. nail — for a hammer
  24. straw — dry grass

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