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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. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  5. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  8. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  9. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  12. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  15. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  22. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  23. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  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. capital — money
  2. field — for sport
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. hide — to keep secret
  5. wound — an injury
  6. degree — from a university
  7. hide — animal skin
  8. club — for dancing
  9. fall — the season
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. club — a group
  12. club — for golf
  13. field — a subject
  14. tear — from crying
  15. wound — an injury
  16. degree — an amount
  17. hide — to keep secret
  18. field — farmland
  19. degree — temperature
  20. capital — a city
  21. tear — from crying
  22. fall — to drop
  23. fall — to drop
  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