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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. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  2. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  3. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  4. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  8. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  9. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  10. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  13. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  14. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  15. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  16. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  17. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  20. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  21. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. track — a path
  3. wake — to stop sleeping
  4. fork — a garden tool
  5. field — farmland
  6. degree — an amount
  7. prune — to trim
  8. fork — in a road
  9. leaves — to go away
  10. leaves — lets stay
  11. degree — from a university
  12. tear — to rip
  13. prune — to trim
  14. leaves — of a tree
  15. wake — a trail
  16. wake — before a funeral
  17. tear — from crying
  18. degree — temperature
  19. track — a song
  20. fork — to eat with
  21. prune — the fruit
  22. field — for sport
  23. track — to keep track
  24. field — a subject

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