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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. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  3. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  6. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  10. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  11. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  19. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  20. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  21. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. net — after costs
  3. can — a tin
  4. field — for sport
  5. club — for dancing
  6. can — a tin
  7. field — farmland
  8. bat — the animal
  9. cap — of ice
  10. club — for golf
  11. can — to be able to
  12. clip — to cut
  13. clip — for paper
  14. club — a group
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. content — the amount
  18. content — happy
  19. cap — a lid
  20. net — in sport
  21. net — for catching
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. field — a subject
  24. cap — a hat

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