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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: cap · wound · press · kick · tear · field

  1. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  3. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. Did you ________________ the button?
  7. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  12. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  13. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  14. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  15. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  16. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  17. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  18. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. wound — past of 'wind'
  3. press — a publisher
  4. field — a subject
  5. field — for sport
  6. press — to push
  7. cap — of ice
  8. tear — to rip
  9. cap — a lid
  10. tear — from crying
  11. tear — from crying
  12. kick — in football
  13. cap — a hat
  14. wound — an injury
  15. press — newspapers
  16. wound — an injury
  17. kick — a thrill
  18. kick — with a leg

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