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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. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  2. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  13. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  16. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  17. The ________________ market has crashed.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  20. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  21. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  22. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — to rip
  2. bat — in an idiom
  3. tear — from crying
  4. field — for sport
  5. chest — of your body
  6. capital — money
  7. field — a subject
  8. bat — the animal
  9. field — farmland
  10. bowl — a football final
  11. chest — a box
  12. wound — an injury
  13. stock — goods
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. wound — past of 'wind'
  16. bowl — to roll
  17. stock — shares
  18. capital — a city
  19. bowl — a dish
  20. stock — a soup base
  21. chest — of your body
  22. wound — an injury
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. tear — from crying

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