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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 120 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 hit the ball with his ________________.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  7. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  10. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  11. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  12. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  13. I'll be taking the ________________.
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  18. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  19. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  22. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  23. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  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. racket — for tennis
  2. wind — moving air
  3. tear — from crying
  4. game — wild animals
  5. field — a subject
  6. foot — part of the body
  7. racket — a loud noise
  8. field — farmland
  9. tear — from crying
  10. foot — a measure
  11. tube — in a tire
  12. foot — the bottom
  13. tube — the underground
  14. game — a match
  15. game — a kind of play
  16. tear — to rip
  17. wind — to turn a key
  18. tube — a container
  19. wind — moving air
  20. field — for sport
  21. racket — for tennis
  22. stem — of a plant
  23. stem — to come from
  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