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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. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  2. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. He works in a ________________ mill.
  8. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  9. She's very handy with a ________________.
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  12. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  23. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  24. ________________ you help me carry this box?

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. patient — calm and waiting
  3. degree — from a university
  4. field — farmland
  5. field — for sport
  6. tear — to rip
  7. saw — the tool
  8. patient — a sick person
  9. saw — the tool
  10. field — a subject
  11. mine — belonging to me
  12. mine — for digging
  13. cold — an illness
  14. saw — past of 'see'
  15. degree — an amount
  16. patient — a sick person
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. can — a tin
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. degree — temperature
  21. cold — not warm
  22. can — a tin
  23. tear — from crying
  24. can — to be able to

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