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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 120 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. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  2. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  3. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  4. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  5. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  6. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  12. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  13. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  14. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  15. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  16. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  19. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  20. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. face — to confront
  3. wake — a trail
  4. face — to point toward
  5. tear — to rip
  6. chair — a leader
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. cold — an illness
  9. wave — with your hand
  10. cold — not warm
  11. wake — to stop sleeping
  12. face — part of the head
  13. branch — a division
  14. wave — a sudden rise
  15. chair — to sit on
  16. wake — before a funeral
  17. field — a subject
  18. tear — from crying
  19. branch — of a tree
  20. chair — a professorship
  21. field — farmland
  22. branch — of a bank
  23. field — for sport
  24. wave — of the sea

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