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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. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  5. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  6. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  7. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  8. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  9. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  10. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  11. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  12. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  13. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. He is an ace ________________.
  19. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  20. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  23. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  24. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. wound — past of 'wind'
  3. bat — the animal
  4. row — a line
  5. wound — an injury
  6. tear — from crying
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. bear — the animal
  9. bore — gave birth
  10. tear — to rip
  11. wound — an injury
  12. tear — from crying
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. row — to paddle
  15. field — a subject
  16. field — for sport
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. pitcher — in baseball
  19. bore — to drill
  20. bear — the animal
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. bear — to put up with
  23. row — a quarrel
  24. bore — to tire

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