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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. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  2. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  9. He was locked up in a ________________.
  10. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  17. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  18. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  19. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  20. Where did you ________________ them?
  21. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  22. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. bat — in an idiom
  3. patient — calm and waiting
  4. field — for sport
  5. cell — in biology
  6. cell — a phone
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. patient — a sick person
  9. cell — in a prison
  10. prune — the fruit
  11. tear — to rip
  12. field — farmland
  13. mug — a cup
  14. game — a match
  15. field — a subject
  16. game — wild animals
  17. tear — from crying
  18. mug — a face
  19. prune — to trim
  20. mug — to rob
  21. patient — a sick person
  22. prune — to trim
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. bat — the animal

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