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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. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  2. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  8. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  15. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  19. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  20. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  23. He was locked up in a ________________.
  24. We have nothing to ________________ here.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — with a leg
  2. bass — the instrument
  3. clip — to cut
  4. bass — low music
  5. kid — child
  6. field — for sport
  7. cell — a phone
  8. bass — the fish
  9. clip — a video
  10. cell — in biology
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. hide — to keep secret
  13. kid — to tease
  14. hide — animal skin
  15. kick — a thrill
  16. clip — for paper
  17. field — a subject
  18. net — in sport
  19. net — after costs
  20. net — for catching
  21. field — farmland
  22. kick — in football
  23. cell — in a prison
  24. hide — to keep secret

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