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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 · chair · mine · field · race · season · tear · bank

  1. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  2. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  5. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  6. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  7. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  8. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  9. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  10. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  11. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  12. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  13. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  14. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  15. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  18. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  19. Did you ________________ the meat?
  20. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  21. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.

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

Answer key

  1. bank — for money
  2. mine — an explosive
  3. field — for sport
  4. chair — a professorship
  5. bank — for money
  6. chair — to sit on
  7. tear — to rip
  8. race — humankind
  9. season — of the year
  10. bank — of a river
  11. wound — past of 'wind'
  12. chair — a leader
  13. race — a contest
  14. wound — an injury
  15. season — in sport
  16. field — farmland
  17. wound — an injury
  18. mine — belonging to me
  19. season — to add flavour
  20. tear — from crying
  21. race — the arms race
  22. mine — for digging
  23. field — a subject
  24. tear — from crying

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