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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. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  5. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  6. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  7. It's one o'clock ________________.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  10. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  11. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  12. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  13. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  14. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  15. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  16. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  17. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  18. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  19. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. rock — music
  2. field — for sport
  3. kid — to tease
  4. toast — the most admired
  5. sharp — clever
  6. tear — from crying
  7. sharp — exactly
  8. field — farmland
  9. sharp — with an edge
  10. wax — in the ear
  11. rock — a stone
  12. toast — a drink to someone
  13. rock — to move gently
  14. toast — bread
  15. wax — for sculpting
  16. tear — from crying
  17. wound — an injury
  18. wax — to grow
  19. tear — to rip
  20. kid — child
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. wound — an injury
  24. field — a subject

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