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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. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  5. He was locked up in a ________________.
  6. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  7. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  8. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  9. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  10. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  11. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  12. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  18. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  19. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  20. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  21. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  22. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. field — a subject
  3. chest — of your body
  4. straw — to clutch at straws
  5. cell — in a prison
  6. band — a rubber band
  7. tear — from crying
  8. ruler — a monarch
  9. ruler — for measuring
  10. bore — to drill
  11. band — a ring
  12. ruler — for measuring
  13. field — for sport
  14. chest — a box
  15. bore — gave birth
  16. field — farmland
  17. cell — a phone
  18. chest — of your body
  19. straw — a straw man
  20. bore — to tire
  21. straw — dry grass
  22. band — a music group
  23. cell — in biology
  24. tear — to rip

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