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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. Don't do anything ________________.
  2. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  3. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  6. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  7. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  8. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  11. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. It's one o'clock ________________.
  19. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  22. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  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. rash — hasty
  2. snap — to speak sharply
  3. rash — on the skin
  4. field — farmland
  5. tear — from crying
  6. content — videos and posts
  7. sharp — with an edge
  8. snap — to snap out of it
  9. wind — moving air
  10. content — happy
  11. tear — from crying
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. stem — a stem cell
  14. content — the amount
  15. rash — a series
  16. field — for sport
  17. wind — moving air
  18. sharp — exactly
  19. stem — to come from
  20. tear — to rip
  21. snap — to click
  22. sharp — clever
  23. field — a subject
  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