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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: rest · spell · cold · bore · capital · field · tear · nail

  1. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  9. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  12. The ________________ went through the wall.
  13. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  14. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  15. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  20. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  23. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  24. How do you ________________ your surname?

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

Answer key

  1. spell — magic
  2. field — a subject
  3. rest — what's left
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. bore — gave birth
  6. cold — not warm
  7. field — for sport
  8. nail — on a finger
  9. bore — to drill
  10. capital — money
  11. capital — a city
  12. nail — for a hammer
  13. tear — to rip
  14. bore — to tire
  15. rest — what's left
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. field — farmland
  18. cold — an illness
  19. rest — a break
  20. nail — for a hammer
  21. tear — from crying
  22. spell — a short time
  23. tear — from crying
  24. spell — letters

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