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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. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  2. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  3. I'll be taking the ________________.
  4. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  5. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  6. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  7. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  11. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  12. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  13. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  14. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  15. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  16. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  17. False peace will not ________________.
  18. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  21. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  22. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  23. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to speak sharply
  2. tear — from crying
  3. tube — the underground
  4. tube — a container
  5. last — final
  6. last — finally
  7. tear — to rip
  8. field — a subject
  9. field — farmland
  10. lean — to rest against
  11. tube — in a tire
  12. tear — from crying
  13. lean — thin
  14. drill — army training
  15. drill — a practice
  16. lean — to bend
  17. last — to go on
  18. snap — to snap out of it
  19. wound — an injury
  20. wound — past of 'wind'
  21. wound — an injury
  22. drill — the tool
  23. snap — to click
  24. field — for sport

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