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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. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  3. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  4. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  5. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  8. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  9. We're on a ________________ here.
  10. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  13. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  14. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  15. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. The ________________ went through the wall.
  18. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  19. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  22. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  23. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  24. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. lash — to lash out
  3. wind — moving air
  4. tear — from crying
  5. roll — a cake
  6. hand — help
  7. wind — moving air
  8. band — a ring
  9. roll — on a roll
  10. lash — an eyelash
  11. hand — in cards
  12. band — a music group
  13. lash — a whip stroke
  14. nail — on a finger
  15. tear — from crying
  16. field — farmland
  17. nail — for a hammer
  18. hand — part of the body
  19. nail — for a hammer
  20. field — a subject
  21. tear — to rip
  22. roll — a list
  23. band — a rubber band
  24. wind — to turn a key

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