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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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Word bank
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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: field · ball · wind · hand · bear · press · present · tear

  1. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. Did you ________________ the button?
  4. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  5. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  6. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  7. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  8. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  14. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  15. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  16. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. The King held a masked ________________.
  19. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  20. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  21. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  22. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  23. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  24. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — to turn a key
  2. field — a subject
  3. press — to push
  4. present — the time now
  5. wind — moving air
  6. tear — from crying
  7. tear — to rip
  8. press — newspapers
  9. field — for sport
  10. ball — a round shape
  11. hand — in cards
  12. field — farmland
  13. press — a publisher
  14. hand — help
  15. bear — the animal
  16. bear — to put up with
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. ball — a dance
  19. wind — moving air
  20. ball — a great time
  21. present — a gift
  22. present — there
  23. bear — the animal
  24. tear — from crying

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