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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. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  3. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  4. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  5. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  8. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  11. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  12. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  13. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  14. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  15. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. The ________________ took off on time.
  18. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  19. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  20. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  21. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. plane — a tool
  3. wake — before a funeral
  4. tear — from crying
  5. lash — an eyelash
  6. field — farmland
  7. toast — the most admired
  8. plane — in geometry
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. wake — a trail
  11. lash — a whip stroke
  12. toast — bread
  13. branch — of a bank
  14. branch — a division
  15. tear — from crying
  16. field — a subject
  17. plane — an aircraft
  18. toast — a drink to someone
  19. branch — of a tree
  20. lash — to lash out
  21. wake — to stop sleeping
  22. cold — not warm
  23. cold — an illness
  24. tear — to rip

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