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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. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. She's very handy with a ________________.
  8. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  9. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  10. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  13. He works in a ________________ mill.
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. False peace will not ________________.
  16. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  17. The ________________ market has crashed.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  20. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  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. field — farmland
  2. stock — a soup base
  3. game — wild animals
  4. field — a subject
  5. straw — to clutch at straws
  6. clip — to cut
  7. saw — the tool
  8. saw — past of 'see'
  9. last — final
  10. stock — goods
  11. clip — a video
  12. present — the time now
  13. saw — the tool
  14. game — a match
  15. last — to go on
  16. game — a kind of play
  17. stock — shares
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. present — a gift
  20. present — there
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. clip — for paper
  23. field — for sport
  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