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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. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  2. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  3. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  4. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  5. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  6. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  7. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  8. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  9. It's one o'clock ________________.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  14. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  19. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  20. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  23. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  24. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. bear — to put up with
  3. squash — the vegetable
  4. fan — a supporter
  5. squash — the sport
  6. sharp — with an edge
  7. wind — to turn a key
  8. tear — from crying
  9. sharp — exactly
  10. field — for sport
  11. net — after costs
  12. wind — moving air
  13. sharp — clever
  14. fan — a supporter
  15. field — farmland
  16. fan — to cool the air
  17. tear — to rip
  18. wind — moving air
  19. net — for catching
  20. bear — the animal
  21. field — a subject
  22. net — in sport
  23. bear — the animal
  24. squash — to crush

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