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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. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  3. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  6. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  7. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  8. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  9. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  10. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  11. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  12. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  13. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  14. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  15. I can't ________________ this cold.
  16. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  17. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  18. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  19. That was a fun ________________.
  20. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  21. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  22. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. tear — from crying
  3. tear — from crying
  4. field — a subject
  5. row — a line
  6. stand — for spectators
  7. stem — to come from
  8. stem — a stem cell
  9. band — a music group
  10. row — to paddle
  11. stem — of a plant
  12. ruler — a monarch
  13. game — wild animals
  14. ruler — for measuring
  15. stand — to bear
  16. row — a quarrel
  17. band — a rubber band
  18. ruler — for measuring
  19. game — a match
  20. band — a ring
  21. tear — to rip
  22. stand — on your feet
  23. field — for sport
  24. game — a kind of play

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