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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: rock · wind · hand · sharp · rash · tear · field · mine

  1. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  4. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  5. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  6. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  9. Don't do anything ________________.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. It's one o'clock ________________.
  14. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  15. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  16. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  17. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  18. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  22. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — to rip
  2. mine — for digging
  3. hand — part of the body
  4. rock — music
  5. rock — a stone
  6. tear — from crying
  7. field — a subject
  8. rash — a series
  9. rash — hasty
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. sharp — with an edge
  12. hand — help
  13. sharp — exactly
  14. wind — moving air
  15. rock — to move gently
  16. rash — on the skin
  17. sharp — clever
  18. tear — from crying
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. field — farmland
  21. hand — in cards
  22. wind — to turn a key
  23. wind — moving air
  24. field — for sport

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