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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. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  3. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. How do you ________________ your surname?
  9. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  15. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  18. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  21. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  22. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  23. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  24. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. content — videos and posts
  3. rock — music
  4. content — the amount
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. tear — from crying
  7. field — a subject
  8. spell — letters
  9. stem — of a plant
  10. field — farmland
  11. bat — the animal
  12. rock — to move gently
  13. field — for sport
  14. content — happy
  15. rock — a stone
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. wind — moving air
  18. tear — to rip
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. spell — magic
  21. stem — to come from
  22. spell — a short time
  23. tear — from crying
  24. stem — a stem cell

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