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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: field · date · straw · tear · rule · temple · wound · cold

  1. Have you settled on a ________________?
  2. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  5. When was this ________________ built?
  6. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  7. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  12. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  13. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  14. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  15. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  19. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  20. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  23. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  24. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.

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

Answer key

  1. date — on the calendar
  2. tear — to rip
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. date — on the calendar
  5. temple — a place of worship
  6. wound — past of 'wind'
  7. tear — from crying
  8. field — for sport
  9. date — the fruit
  10. field — farmland
  11. wound — an injury
  12. straw — to clutch at straws
  13. rule — a law
  14. temple — a place of worship
  15. rule — government
  16. field — a subject
  17. cold — an illness
  18. wound — an injury
  19. rule — to rule out
  20. temple — side of the head
  21. cold — not warm
  22. straw — a straw man
  23. straw — dry grass
  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