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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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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: race · prune · spell · game · field · wind · firm · tear

  1. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  4. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  5. That was a fun ________________.
  6. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  7. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  8. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  11. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  12. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  13. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  17. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  19. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  20. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  21. How do you ________________ your surname?
  22. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  23. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  24. A ________________ is just a dried plum.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. field — farmland
  3. firm — a company
  4. game — a kind of play
  5. game — a match
  6. firm — decided
  7. tear — to rip
  8. tear — from crying
  9. wind — moving air
  10. prune — to trim
  11. race — humankind
  12. game — wild animals
  13. prune — to trim
  14. field — for sport
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. firm — steady
  17. race — the arms race
  18. wind — moving air
  19. spell — magic
  20. race — a contest
  21. spell — letters
  22. spell — a short time
  23. tear — from crying
  24. prune — the fruit

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