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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. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  2. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  3. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  4. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  9. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  10. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  15. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  16. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  19. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  20. This piece is in a major ________________.
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  23. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. rock — music
  2. tear — from crying
  3. hide — to keep secret
  4. tear — to rip
  5. kid — to tease
  6. field — for sport
  7. field — farmland
  8. row — a line
  9. hide — animal skin
  10. row — a quarrel
  11. kid — child
  12. ruler — for measuring
  13. field — a subject
  14. hide — to keep secret
  15. key — for a lock
  16. key — the most important part
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. rock — to move gently
  19. ruler — for measuring
  20. key — in music
  21. tear — from crying
  22. rock — a stone
  23. ruler — a monarch
  24. row — to paddle

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