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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. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  2. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  4. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  5. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  6. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  7. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  8. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. He was locked up in a ________________.
  14. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  17. Don't do anything ________________.
  18. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  21. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — a sports field
  2. band — a music group
  3. band — a ring
  4. root — the cause
  5. rash — on the skin
  6. lash — a whip stroke
  7. root — of a word
  8. rash — a series
  9. clip — for paper
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. pitch — completely
  12. field — for sport
  13. cell — in a prison
  14. root — of a plant
  15. clip — a video
  16. pitch — a sales talk
  17. rash — hasty
  18. lash — to lash out
  19. field — a subject
  20. lash — an eyelash
  21. cell — a phone
  22. clip — to cut
  23. cell — in biology
  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