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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: mark · net · tear · race · field · current · chest · rash

  1. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  2. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  5. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  6. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  7. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  10. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  11. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  12. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  13. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  14. Don't do anything ________________.
  15. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  16. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  21. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  22. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  23. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  24. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. race — a contest
  3. field — for sport
  4. mark — to pay attention
  5. net — for catching
  6. net — after costs
  7. chest — of your body
  8. field — a subject
  9. chest — a box
  10. tear — from crying
  11. race — the arms race
  12. mark — a grade
  13. tear — to rip
  14. rash — hasty
  15. current — electric
  16. net — in sport
  17. chest — of your body
  18. current — of water
  19. field — farmland
  20. rash — on the skin
  21. race — humankind
  22. mark — a trace
  23. rash — a series
  24. current — happening now

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