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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. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  4. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  5. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  6. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  7. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  8. Have you met the new head ________________?
  9. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  14. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  15. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  16. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  17. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  21. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  22. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — a thrill
  2. field — a subject
  3. coach — pulled by horses
  4. safe — out of danger
  5. coach — a trainer
  6. wound — an injury
  7. rest — what's left
  8. coach — a trainer
  9. rest — what's left
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. clip — for paper
  12. clip — a video
  13. hand — help
  14. rest — a break
  15. kick — in football
  16. safe — out of danger
  17. safe — a strongbox
  18. wound — an injury
  19. clip — to cut
  20. wound — past of 'wind'
  21. hand — in cards
  22. kick — with a leg
  23. field — for sport
  24. field — farmland

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