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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 120 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. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  3. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  6. It's one o'clock ________________.
  7. How do you ________________ your surname?
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  10. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  15. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  18. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  19. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  20. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  21. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  22. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  23. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  24. The ________________ market has crashed.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. sharp — with an edge
  3. stock — goods
  4. field — a subject
  5. stock — a soup base
  6. sharp — exactly
  7. spell — letters
  8. shower — to wash
  9. tear — from crying
  10. race — a contest
  11. shower — rain
  12. fall — the season
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. race — the arms race
  15. fall — to drop
  16. field — for sport
  17. spell — a short time
  18. sharp — clever
  19. race — humankind
  20. tear — from crying
  21. tear — to rip
  22. spell — magic
  23. fall — to drop
  24. stock — shares

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