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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. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  3. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  4. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  5. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  6. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  7. He works in a ________________ mill.
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  15. She's very handy with a ________________.
  16. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  17. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  18. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  19. That was a fun ________________.
  20. This piece is in a major ________________.
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  23. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  24. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. key — for a lock
  3. kick — in football
  4. wake — a trail
  5. saw — past of 'see'
  6. wake — before a funeral
  7. saw — the tool
  8. tear — to rip
  9. field — a subject
  10. field — for sport
  11. game — wild animals
  12. shower — a meteor shower
  13. shower — rain
  14. key — the most important part
  15. saw — the tool
  16. kick — with a leg
  17. tear — from crying
  18. game — a kind of play
  19. game — a match
  20. key — in music
  21. field — farmland
  22. kick — a thrill
  23. tear — from crying
  24. wake — to stop sleeping

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