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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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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: field · ground · temple · tear · bore · spell · shower · race

  1. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  2. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  5. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  6. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  7. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  8. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  9. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  10. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  11. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  12. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. How do you ________________ your surname?
  18. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  21. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  22. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  23. When was this ________________ built?
  24. There's no middle ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. ground — crushed
  3. shower — rain
  4. race — humankind
  5. temple — a place of worship
  6. bore — gave birth
  7. race — the arms race
  8. bore — to tire
  9. spell — a short time
  10. tear — from crying
  11. race — a contest
  12. spell — magic
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. field — for sport
  15. ground — the earth
  16. field — farmland
  17. spell — letters
  18. temple — side of the head
  19. field — a subject
  20. bore — to drill
  21. tear — to rip
  22. shower — to wash
  23. temple — a place of worship
  24. ground — a position

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