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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. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  7. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  8. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  9. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  14. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  19. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  20. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  21. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  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 — for sport
  2. toast — a drink to someone
  3. cell — a phone
  4. hand — in cards
  5. hand — help
  6. trunk — of a car
  7. toast — bread
  8. pit — in a race
  9. trunk — of an elephant
  10. tear — from crying
  11. toast — the most admired
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. wound — an injury
  14. wound — an injury
  15. field — farmland
  16. field — a subject
  17. cell — in a prison
  18. tear — from crying
  19. pit — a fruit stone
  20. wound — past of 'wind'
  21. pit — a hole
  22. cell — in biology
  23. trunk — of a tree
  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