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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. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  2. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  3. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  6. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  7. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  8. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  11. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  16. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  17. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  18. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  22. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  23. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  24. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. track — to keep track
  3. stem — to come from
  4. field — farmland
  5. tear — from crying
  6. track — a path
  7. wound — past of 'wind'
  8. drill — the tool
  9. field — for sport
  10. track — a song
  11. tear — from crying
  12. degree — an amount
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. degree — temperature
  15. drill — a practice
  16. straw — a straw man
  17. drill — army training
  18. tear — to rip
  19. field — a subject
  20. degree — from a university
  21. wound — an injury
  22. straw — to clutch at straws
  23. stem — of a plant
  24. stem — a stem cell

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