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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. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  3. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  4. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  5. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  6. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  7. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  8. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  9. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  10. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  11. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  12. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  15. Have you met the new head ________________?
  16. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  17. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  18. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  19. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  20. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  21. How do you ________________ your surname?
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. cap — a hat
  3. spell — magic
  4. cap — a lid
  5. branch — of a tree
  6. coach — pulled by horses
  7. tear — to rip
  8. branch — of a bank
  9. coach — a trainer
  10. cap — of ice
  11. chip — for betting
  12. wound — an injury
  13. field — a subject
  14. spell — a short time
  15. coach — a trainer
  16. tear — from crying
  17. wound — an injury
  18. branch — a division
  19. chip — in a computer
  20. tear — from crying
  21. spell — letters
  22. field — farmland
  23. chip — to eat
  24. wound — past of 'wind'

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