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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. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  2. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  3. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  4. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  7. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. How do you ________________ your surname?
  10. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  13. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  19. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  22. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  2. tear — to rip
  3. racket — for tennis
  4. spell — magic
  5. field — for sport
  6. shower — rain
  7. shower — a meteor shower
  8. field — farmland
  9. spell — letters
  10. racket — a loud noise
  11. kid — child
  12. spring — a coil
  13. spell — a short time
  14. spring — the season
  15. degree — temperature
  16. shower — to wash
  17. degree — from a university
  18. tear — from crying
  19. racket — for tennis
  20. field — a subject
  21. tear — from crying
  22. kid — to tease
  23. degree — an amount
  24. spring — of water

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