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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. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  2. We're almost out of ________________.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  6. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  7. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  8. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  9. The King held a masked ________________.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  12. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  13. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  18. You don't need to ________________ round.
  19. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  20. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  21. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  22. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  23. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  24. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. pop — soda
  3. degree — from a university
  4. field — a subject
  5. file — a document
  6. chair — to sit on
  7. file — a line of people
  8. drill — a practice
  9. ball — a dance
  10. field — for sport
  11. pop — music
  12. tear — to rip
  13. tear — from crying
  14. degree — an amount
  15. degree — temperature
  16. field — farmland
  17. chair — a leader
  18. pop — to visit
  19. file — a tool
  20. drill — army training
  21. drill — the tool
  22. ball — a round shape
  23. chair — a professorship
  24. ball — a great time

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