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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. Have you met the new head ________________?
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  4. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  5. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  6. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  9. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  10. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  11. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  12. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  13. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  14. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  18. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  19. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  20. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  21. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  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. coach — a trainer
  2. field — farmland
  3. tear — from crying
  4. hide — animal skin
  5. wound — an injury
  6. wound — past of 'wind'
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. rule — to rule out
  9. rule — a law
  10. hide — to keep secret
  11. wake — a trail
  12. wake — before a funeral
  13. wake — to stop sleeping
  14. wound — an injury
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. tear — to rip
  17. tear — from crying
  18. hide — to keep secret
  19. coach — pulled by horses
  20. rule — government
  21. coach — a trainer
  22. bat — the animal
  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