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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. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  6. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  7. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  8. Did you ________________ the meat?
  9. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  18. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  23. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  24. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. spring — the season
  3. field — a subject
  4. field — for sport
  5. tear — from crying
  6. file — a document
  7. band — a ring
  8. season — to add flavour
  9. hide — to keep secret
  10. spring — a coil
  11. season — of the year
  12. degree — from a university
  13. degree — an amount
  14. band — a music group
  15. field — farmland
  16. tear — to rip
  17. season — in sport
  18. band — a rubber band
  19. file — a line of people
  20. hide — to keep secret
  21. degree — temperature
  22. file — a tool
  23. tear — from crying
  24. hide — animal skin

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