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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. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  6. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  9. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  13. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  14. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  15. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  16. Have you settled on a ________________?
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  19. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  20. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  21. David sat on the ________________.
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  24. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. squash — the vegetable
  3. shower — rain
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. tear — from crying
  6. swing — in golf
  7. field — a subject
  8. patient — a sick person
  9. date — on the calendar
  10. capital — a city
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. tear — from crying
  13. tear — to rip
  14. squash — to crush
  15. swing — music
  16. date — on the calendar
  17. shower — to wash
  18. patient — calm and waiting
  19. squash — the sport
  20. date — the fruit
  21. swing — to play on
  22. field — farmland
  23. patient — a sick person
  24. capital — money

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