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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. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. False peace will not ________________.
  6. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  7. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  10. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  11. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  12. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  13. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  20. My mare is ________________ in color.
  21. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  22. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  23. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  24. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. field — farmland
  3. root — of a plant
  4. field — a subject
  5. last — to go on
  6. trunk — of a car
  7. trunk — of an elephant
  8. tear — to rip
  9. root — the cause
  10. last — finally
  11. tear — from crying
  12. scale — for weighing
  13. bay — a part of the sea
  14. file — a document
  15. trunk — of a tree
  16. file — a line of people
  17. root — of a word
  18. field — for sport
  19. scale — in music
  20. bay — a horse colour
  21. bay — to keep at bay
  22. tear — from crying
  23. file — a tool
  24. scale — size or range

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