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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 116 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: tear · field · cold · land · mine · leaves · wind · fork

  1. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  5. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  12. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  20. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  21. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  24. The train ________________ at six o'clock.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. tear — from crying
  3. land — ground
  4. leaves — of a tree
  5. fork — in a road
  6. land — to come down
  7. cold — not warm
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. wind — to turn a key
  10. wind — moving air
  11. tear — from crying
  12. fork — to eat with
  13. field — farmland
  14. field — for sport
  15. wind — moving air
  16. cold — an illness
  17. mine — an explosive
  18. field — a subject
  19. tear — to rip
  20. mine — for digging
  21. fork — a garden tool
  22. land — a country
  23. leaves — lets stay
  24. leaves — to go away

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