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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 116 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. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  3. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  4. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  5. David sat on the ________________.
  6. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  12. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. Did you ________________ the meat?
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. False peace will not ________________.
  18. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  19. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. That must've been a ________________.
  22. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  23. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  24. At ________________, we arrived at the village.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. swing — in golf
  3. rush — hurry
  4. season — in sport
  5. swing — to play on
  6. fall — the season
  7. clip — to cut
  8. swing — music
  9. field — farmland
  10. spring — of water
  11. season — of the year
  12. last — final
  13. field — for sport
  14. season — to add flavour
  15. clip — for paper
  16. spring — a coil
  17. last — to go on
  18. spring — the season
  19. fall — to drop
  20. field — a subject
  21. rush — a thrill
  22. rush — to hurry
  23. fall — to drop
  24. last — finally

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