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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. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. It's one o'clock ________________.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  9. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  10. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  11. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  12. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  15. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  20. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  21. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  22. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  23. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  24. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. band — a ring
  3. wind — moving air
  4. sharp — exactly
  5. field — farmland
  6. field — for sport
  7. hand — in cards
  8. leaves — lets stay
  9. fine — a penalty
  10. tear — to rip
  11. sharp — clever
  12. sharp — with an edge
  13. field — a subject
  14. leaves — of a tree
  15. leaves — to go away
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. fine — high quality
  18. hand — help
  19. wind — moving air
  20. band — a music group
  21. wind — to turn a key
  22. fine — all right
  23. band — a rubber band
  24. tear — from crying

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