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

Word bank: swing · race · tear · chair · season · field

  1. David sat on the ________________.
  2. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  3. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  4. Did you ________________ the meat?
  5. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  8. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  9. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  10. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  11. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  12. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  15. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. Spring is a pleasant ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — to play on
  2. chair — a professorship
  3. tear — from crying
  4. season — to add flavour
  5. tear — to rip
  6. field — a subject
  7. chair — to sit on
  8. chair — a leader
  9. swing — in golf
  10. race — the arms race
  11. race — humankind
  12. swing — music
  13. tear — from crying
  14. season — in sport
  15. race — a contest
  16. field — for sport
  17. field — farmland
  18. season — of the year

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