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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: chair · prune · temple · tear · wind · field · race · suit

  1. When was this ________________ built?
  2. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  3. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  6. When will it ________________ you to start?
  7. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  8. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  14. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  15. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  16. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  17. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  18. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  19. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  20. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  21. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  22. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. temple — a place of worship
  2. chair — a professorship
  3. chair — a leader
  4. field — a subject
  5. prune — to trim
  6. suit — to fit
  7. temple — side of the head
  8. tear — from crying
  9. field — farmland
  10. wind — moving air
  11. prune — to trim
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. tear — to rip
  14. suit — in cards
  15. tear — from crying
  16. chair — to sit on
  17. prune — the fruit
  18. race — humankind
  19. temple — a place of worship
  20. suit — clothes
  21. race — the arms race
  22. race — a contest
  23. field — for sport
  24. wind — moving air

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