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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 116 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: wound · mate · field · tear · cell · fine · kick · race

  1. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  4. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  5. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  6. Have you found your soul ________________?
  7. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  8. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  9. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  12. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  13. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  17. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  18. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  19. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  20. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  21. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  24. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. field — farmland
  3. fine — high quality
  4. fine — a penalty
  5. race — humankind
  6. mate — a partner
  7. tear — to rip
  8. kick — with a leg
  9. mate — a friend
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. kick — a thrill
  12. wound — an injury
  13. kick — in football
  14. field — for sport
  15. field — a subject
  16. race — a contest
  17. cell — a phone
  18. tear — from crying
  19. race — the arms race
  20. wound — an injury
  21. cell — in biology
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. fine — all right
  24. mate — to breed

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