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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. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  2. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  3. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  4. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  5. That must've been a ________________.
  6. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. How do you ________________ your surname?
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  15. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  16. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. I can't ________________ this cold.
  19. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  20. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  21. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  22. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  23. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  24. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — part of the body
  2. hand — in cards
  3. mine — belonging to me
  4. tear — from crying
  5. rush — a thrill
  6. snap — to snap out of it
  7. field — for sport
  8. stand — on your feet
  9. field — farmland
  10. spell — letters
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. stand — for spectators
  13. field — a subject
  14. snap — to click
  15. rush — to hurry
  16. mine — for digging
  17. tear — to rip
  18. stand — to bear
  19. rush — hurry
  20. tear — from crying
  21. hand — help
  22. spell — a short time
  23. snap — to speak sharply
  24. spell — magic

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