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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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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: straw · lie · sharp · field · suit · squash · spring · tear

  1. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  2. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  3. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  12. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  13. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  14. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  15. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. It's one o'clock ________________.
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. When will it ________________ you to start?
  23. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  24. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.

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

Answer key

  1. lie — an untruth
  2. lie — an untruth
  3. tear — from crying
  4. field — for sport
  5. squash — to crush
  6. field — a subject
  7. tear — from crying
  8. field — farmland
  9. spring — a coil
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. suit — in cards
  12. suit — clothes
  13. squash — the sport
  14. sharp — clever
  15. sharp — with an edge
  16. spring — the season
  17. tear — to rip
  18. sharp — exactly
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. lie — to recline
  21. spring — of water
  22. suit — to fit
  23. straw — dry grass
  24. squash — the vegetable

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