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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 116 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. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  6. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  13. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  14. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  18. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  19. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  20. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  21. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  24. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. field — a subject
  3. wound — past of 'wind'
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. face — to confront
  6. stick — to attach or keep to
  7. spring — a coil
  8. clip — for paper
  9. stem — to come from
  10. clip — to cut
  11. field — farmland
  12. face — to point toward
  13. spring — of water
  14. stick — a piece of wood
  15. clip — a video
  16. field — for sport
  17. stick — a piece of wood
  18. face — part of the head
  19. hand — help
  20. wound — an injury
  21. hand — in cards
  22. spring — the season
  23. stem — a stem cell
  24. stem — of a plant

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