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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. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  2. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  7. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  8. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  9. That was ________________ to happen.
  10. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  15. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  16. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  21. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  24. That must've been a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bound — obliged
  2. cap — of ice
  3. wind — moving air
  4. prune — to trim
  5. field — a subject
  6. cap — a lid
  7. wind — to turn a key
  8. bound — tied together
  9. bound — certain
  10. rush — hurry
  11. field — farmland
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. prune — the fruit
  15. rush — to hurry
  16. wind — moving air
  17. bat — the animal
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. straw — to clutch at straws
  21. cap — a hat
  22. field — for sport
  23. prune — to trim
  24. rush — a thrill

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