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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 120 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. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  3. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  4. My father caught me by the ________________.
  5. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  6. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  7. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  10. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  11. Have you found your soul ________________?
  12. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. The King held a masked ________________.
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  22. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  23. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  24. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. patient — a sick person
  3. arm — part of the body
  4. arm — part of the body
  5. mate — a friend
  6. patient — a sick person
  7. patient — calm and waiting
  8. field — for sport
  9. tear — from crying
  10. wake — before a funeral
  11. mate — a partner
  12. tear — from crying
  13. clip — for paper
  14. ball — a great time
  15. clip — a video
  16. wake — a trail
  17. clip — to cut
  18. ball — a dance
  19. field — a subject
  20. tear — to rip
  21. ball — a round shape
  22. wake — to stop sleeping
  23. arm — a part of something
  24. mate — to breed

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