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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 120 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: bulb · cue · field · hand · mine · prune · fan · tear

  1. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  2. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  3. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  4. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  5. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. I've got to change the light ________________.
  8. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. The light ________________ burned out.
  11. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  12. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  13. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  20. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  21. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  22. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. I got dealt a bad ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cue — a hint
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. tear — from crying
  4. tear — from crying
  5. prune — to trim
  6. field — for sport
  7. bulb — for light
  8. fan — to cool the air
  9. field — farmland
  10. bulb — for light
  11. fan — a supporter
  12. cue — for pool
  13. bulb — of a plant
  14. tear — to rip
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. hand — help
  17. mine — for digging
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. mine — belonging to me
  20. prune — to trim
  21. prune — the fruit
  22. cue — a signal
  23. field — a subject
  24. hand — in cards

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