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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 met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  4. The light ________________ burned out.
  5. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  15. I've got to change the light ________________.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  23. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  24. I got dealt a bad ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. field — farmland
  3. drill — a practice
  4. bulb — for light
  5. deal — an agreement
  6. field — a subject
  7. drill — army training
  8. mine — for digging
  9. field — for sport
  10. hand — help
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. deal — a big deal
  13. tear — from crying
  14. tear — from crying
  15. bulb — for light
  16. file — a document
  17. tear — to rip
  18. bulb — of a plant
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. deal — to handle
  21. file — a line of people
  22. drill — the tool
  23. file — a tool
  24. hand — in cards

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