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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. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  3. The ball is in your ________________.
  4. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  5. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  6. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  7. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  8. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  9. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  10. He was locked up in a ________________.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  14. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. The ________________ took off on time.
  24. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. tear — from crying
  3. court — for sport
  4. bore — to tire
  5. court — of a king
  6. drill — the tool
  7. plane — a tool
  8. bore — gave birth
  9. cell — a phone
  10. cell — in a prison
  11. field — for sport
  12. cell — in biology
  13. court — of law
  14. plane — in geometry
  15. kid — child
  16. bore — to drill
  17. tear — to rip
  18. drill — a practice
  19. field — farmland
  20. drill — army training
  21. tear — from crying
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. plane — an aircraft
  24. kid — to tease

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