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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. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  2. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  10. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  11. What do you think of the new ________________?
  12. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  15. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  16. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  17. The ________________ went through the wall.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  20. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  21. Have you met the new head ________________?
  22. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.

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

Answer key

  1. nail — on a finger
  2. tear — from crying
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. cold — an illness
  5. tear — from crying
  6. row — a line
  7. field — farmland
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. cabinet — a cupboard
  10. deal — to handle
  11. cabinet — ministers
  12. deal — an agreement
  13. field — for sport
  14. coach — pulled by horses
  15. coach — a trainer
  16. row — to paddle
  17. nail — for a hammer
  18. cold — not warm
  19. tear — to rip
  20. deal — a big deal
  21. coach — a trainer
  22. cabinet — ministers
  23. field — a subject
  24. nail — for a hammer

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