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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 124 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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: chair · prune · temple · tear · wind · field

  1. When was this ________________ built?
  2. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  3. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  4. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  5. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  6. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  7. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  8. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  9. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  10. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  11. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.

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

Answer key

  1. temple — a place of worship
  2. chair — a professorship
  3. tear — from crying
  4. tear — from crying
  5. chair — a leader
  6. prune — the fruit
  7. wind — to turn a key
  8. temple — a place of worship
  9. temple — side of the head
  10. chair — to sit on
  11. prune — to trim
  12. wind — moving air
  13. prune — to trim
  14. field — for sport
  15. field — farmland
  16. field — a subject
  17. wind — moving air
  18. tear — to rip

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