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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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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: wound · drill · cell · snap · row · plane · tear · field

  1. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  2. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  3. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  6. The ________________ took off on time.
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  9. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  10. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  13. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  14. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  15. He was locked up in a ________________.
  16. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  17. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  18. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  22. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  23. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  24. We had a fire ________________ at school today.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a quarrel
  2. tear — from crying
  3. drill — the tool
  4. field — a subject
  5. tear — to rip
  6. plane — an aircraft
  7. wound — an injury
  8. plane — a tool
  9. cell — in biology
  10. cell — a phone
  11. field — farmland
  12. plane — in geometry
  13. snap — to snap out of it
  14. drill — army training
  15. cell — in a prison
  16. tear — from crying
  17. wound — an injury
  18. wound — past of 'wind'
  19. row — to paddle
  20. field — for sport
  21. row — a line
  22. snap — to click
  23. snap — to speak sharply
  24. drill — a practice

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