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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. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  5. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  6. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  7. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  8. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  9. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  14. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  15. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  16. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  19. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  22. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. I had a ________________ with my boss today.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. lie — an untruth
  3. field — farmland
  4. branch — of a bank
  5. branch — a division
  6. wound — past of 'wind'
  7. branch — of a tree
  8. wound — an injury
  9. row — to paddle
  10. wind — moving air
  11. row — a line
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. wound — an injury
  14. calf — a young animal
  15. lie — an untruth
  16. wind — moving air
  17. field — for sport
  18. file — a tool
  19. calf — a young animal
  20. file — a line of people
  21. calf — of the leg
  22. lie — to recline
  23. file — a document
  24. row — a quarrel

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