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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: arm · field · tear · foot · cold · wound · prune · wave

  1. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  2. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  3. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  4. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  5. My father caught me by the ________________.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  8. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  11. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  12. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  17. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  22. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  23. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  24. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — to rip
  2. foot — part of the body
  3. foot — the bottom
  4. wave — a sudden rise
  5. arm — part of the body
  6. cold — not warm
  7. arm — a part of something
  8. tear — from crying
  9. field — for sport
  10. foot — a measure
  11. wound — past of 'wind'
  12. prune — to trim
  13. field — farmland
  14. prune — the fruit
  15. cold — an illness
  16. prune — to trim
  17. wound — an injury
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. wave — with your hand
  20. field — a subject
  21. wound — an injury
  22. tear — from crying
  23. wave — of the sea
  24. arm — part of the body

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