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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. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  6. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  7. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  12. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  13. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  14. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  19. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  20. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  23. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  24. He had ________________ pain while walking.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. prune — to trim
  3. prune — the fruit
  4. field — farmland
  5. stem — to come from
  6. pit — a hole
  7. pit — a fruit stone
  8. tear — to rip
  9. tear — from crying
  10. cold — not warm
  11. calf — a young animal
  12. tear — from crying
  13. calf — a young animal
  14. trunk — of a car
  15. field — for sport
  16. trunk — of an elephant
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. stem — of a plant
  19. pit — in a race
  20. stem — a stem cell
  21. cold — an illness
  22. prune — to trim
  23. trunk — of a tree
  24. calf — of the leg

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