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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 cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  3. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  4. That must've been a ________________.
  5. I've got to change the light ________________.
  6. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  9. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  10. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  17. The light ________________ burned out.
  18. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  19. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  20. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  21. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  22. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  23. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  24. The ________________ market has crashed.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. prune — to trim
  3. tear — to rip
  4. rush — a thrill
  5. bulb — for light
  6. drill — the tool
  7. field — farmland
  8. stock — goods
  9. drill — army training
  10. prune — to trim
  11. cold — an illness
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. cold — not warm
  14. rush — to hurry
  15. field — a subject
  16. rush — hurry
  17. bulb — for light
  18. bulb — of a plant
  19. prune — the fruit
  20. drill — a practice
  21. stock — a soup base
  22. tear — from crying
  23. tear — from crying
  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