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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. Have you met the new head ________________?
  3. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  4. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  5. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  8. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  9. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  14. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  15. We're on a ________________ here.
  16. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. coach — a trainer
  3. wake — to stop sleeping
  4. race — a contest
  5. wake — a trail
  6. field — for sport
  7. wake — before a funeral
  8. coach — pulled by horses
  9. race — the arms race
  10. clip — to cut
  11. field — a subject
  12. clip — for paper
  13. roll — a cake
  14. coach — a trainer
  15. roll — on a roll
  16. race — humankind
  17. clip — a video
  18. roll — a list

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