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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 116 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. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  2. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  3. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  4. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  5. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  10. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  13. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  14. He is an ace ________________.
  15. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  18. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  19. How do you ________________ your surname?
  20. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — to sit on
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. hide — animal skin
  4. hide — to keep secret
  5. tear — from crying
  6. tear — to rip
  7. field — for sport
  8. field — farmland
  9. chair — a professorship
  10. spell — magic
  11. field — a subject
  12. march — music
  13. hide — to keep secret
  14. pitcher — in baseball
  15. march — the month
  16. degree — from a university
  17. chair — a leader
  18. march — the month
  19. spell — letters
  20. spell — a short time
  21. tear — from crying
  22. degree — an amount
  23. pitcher — a jug
  24. degree — temperature

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