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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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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 · file · tear · straw · sharp · net · rule · bound

  1. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  2. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  3. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  6. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  7. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  8. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  9. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  10. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  13. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  14. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. It's one o'clock ________________.
  17. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  18. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  19. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. That was ________________ to happen.
  24. 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. straw — dry grass
  2. net — after costs
  3. tear — from crying
  4. field — farmland
  5. straw — a straw man
  6. file — a line of people
  7. sharp — with an edge
  8. rule — to rule out
  9. straw — to clutch at straws
  10. sharp — clever
  11. file — a document
  12. net — for catching
  13. net — in sport
  14. bound — tied together
  15. tear — from crying
  16. sharp — exactly
  17. rule — a law
  18. bound — obliged
  19. file — a tool
  20. field — a subject
  21. rule — government
  22. field — for sport
  23. bound — certain
  24. 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