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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 girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  2. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  3. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  4. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  5. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  6. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  7. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  8. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  9. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  10. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  11. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  12. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  15. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  16. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  19. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  22. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a line
  2. band — a rubber band
  3. kick — in football
  4. kick — with a leg
  5. tear — from crying
  6. lie — an untruth
  7. stem — to come from
  8. kick — a thrill
  9. wind — to turn a key
  10. lie — to recline
  11. band — a music group
  12. tear — from crying
  13. field — farmland
  14. stem — of a plant
  15. row — a quarrel
  16. band — a ring
  17. field — a subject
  18. wind — moving air
  19. wind — moving air
  20. row — to paddle
  21. stem — a stem cell
  22. tear — to rip
  23. field — for sport
  24. lie — an untruth

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