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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. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  4. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  5. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  6. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  7. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. He was locked up in a ________________.
  16. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  17. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  18. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  19. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. mine — for digging
  3. cell — in biology
  4. band — a ring
  5. bore — gave birth
  6. band — a music group
  7. mine — an explosive
  8. field — a subject
  9. field — for sport
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. degree — temperature
  12. cold — an illness
  13. cold — not warm
  14. degree — from a university
  15. cell — in a prison
  16. tear — from crying
  17. tear — from crying
  18. bore — to tire
  19. bore — to drill
  20. tear — to rip
  21. field — farmland
  22. degree — an amount
  23. cell — a phone
  24. cold — the Cold War

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