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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. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  5. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  8. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  9. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  10. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  14. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  15. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  16. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  17. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  18. That must've been a ________________.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  23. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  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. field — a subject
  2. tear — from crying
  3. game — wild animals
  4. rush — hurry
  5. chip — to eat
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. capital — money
  8. foot — part of the body
  9. foot — the bottom
  10. chip — for betting
  11. field — farmland
  12. game — a match
  13. foot — a measure
  14. rush — to hurry
  15. race — humankind
  16. game — a kind of play
  17. race — a contest
  18. rush — a thrill
  19. tear — from crying
  20. race — the arms race
  21. field — for sport
  22. capital — a city
  23. chip — in a computer
  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