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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: race · wound · hand · field · cue · toast · bore · tear

  1. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  2. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  10. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  11. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  12. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  13. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  16. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  19. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  22. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  23. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  24. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.

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

Answer key

  1. bore — to tire
  2. wound — an injury
  3. hand — help
  4. race — the arms race
  5. wound — an injury
  6. cue — a signal
  7. field — farmland
  8. field — for sport
  9. tear — from crying
  10. bore — gave birth
  11. race — humankind
  12. toast — a drink to someone
  13. toast — the most admired
  14. tear — to rip
  15. cue — for pool
  16. wound — past of 'wind'
  17. field — a subject
  18. cue — a hint
  19. toast — bread
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. hand — in cards
  22. race — a contest
  23. bore — to drill
  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