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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 116 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. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  2. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  9. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  10. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  11. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  19. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  20. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  21. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  22. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  23. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  24. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.

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

Answer key

  1. craft — a handicraft
  2. tear — from crying
  3. field — farmland
  4. pound — to hit hard
  5. field — for sport
  6. field — a subject
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. craft — a skill
  9. file — a tool
  10. kid — child
  11. snap — to click
  12. wind — moving air
  13. pound — a weight
  14. file — a document
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. file — a line of people
  17. tear — to rip
  18. tear — from crying
  19. wind — moving air
  20. pound — for dogs
  21. snap — to speak sharply
  22. kid — to tease
  23. craft — boats
  24. snap — to snap out of it

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