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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. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  2. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  3. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  4. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  8. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  9. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  10. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  11. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  15. Have you found your soul ________________?
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  18. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  19. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  20. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  21. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  22. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. mate — to breed
  3. tear — from crying
  4. staff — a stick
  5. field — farmland
  6. wound — an injury
  7. fall — to drop
  8. pound — for dogs
  9. fall — to drop
  10. mate — a friend
  11. wound — past of 'wind'
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. wound — an injury
  14. pound — a weight
  15. mate — a partner
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. staff — employees
  18. fall — the season
  19. tear — to rip
  20. pound — to hit hard
  21. mine — for digging
  22. tear — from crying
  23. field — for sport
  24. field — a subject

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