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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. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  4. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  8. She's very handy with a ________________.
  9. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  10. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. When are we going to ________________?
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  15. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  16. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  17. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. He works in a ________________ mill.
  24. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. hand — help
  3. pitch — completely
  4. tear — from crying
  5. land — a country
  6. field — for sport
  7. face — to confront
  8. saw — the tool
  9. pitch — a sports field
  10. face — part of the head
  11. tear — to rip
  12. land — to come down
  13. field — farmland
  14. face — to point toward
  15. racket — a loud noise
  16. racket — for tennis
  17. saw — past of 'see'
  18. field — a subject
  19. land — ground
  20. hand — in cards
  21. pitch — a sales talk
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. saw — the tool
  24. racket — for tennis

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