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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 play ________________ in a jazz band.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. She's very handy with a ________________.
  4. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  5. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  6. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  7. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  8. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  9. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  12. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  13. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  14. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  23. He works in a ________________ mill.
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — the instrument
  2. field — a subject
  3. saw — the tool
  4. wound — an injury
  5. bore — to tire
  6. tear — from crying
  7. bore — to drill
  8. saw — past of 'see'
  9. cap — a hat
  10. hand — help
  11. cap — a lid
  12. bass — the fish
  13. bass — low music
  14. bore — gave birth
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. field — for sport
  17. hand — in cards
  18. wound — an injury
  19. field — farmland
  20. cap — of ice
  21. tear — from crying
  22. tear — to rip
  23. saw — the tool
  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