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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. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  2. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  3. We're on a ________________ here.
  4. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  7. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  10. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  17. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  18. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  19. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  20. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  21. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  22. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  23. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  24. She had a strange look on her ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. face — to point toward
  3. roll — on a roll
  4. trunk — of an elephant
  5. field — for sport
  6. trunk — of a car
  7. tear — from crying
  8. field — a subject
  9. roll — a list
  10. trunk — of a tree
  11. field — farmland
  12. bat — the animal
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. face — to confront
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. patient — calm and waiting
  17. bass — the fish
  18. patient — a sick person
  19. tear — to rip
  20. roll — a cake
  21. bass — the instrument
  22. patient — a sick person
  23. bass — low music
  24. face — part of the head

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