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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. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  2. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  8. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  12. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  15. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  18. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  21. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  22. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  23. Did you ________________ the meat?
  24. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. foot — a measure
  2. hand — in cards
  3. field — for sport
  4. clip — for paper
  5. clip — to cut
  6. hand — help
  7. foot — part of the body
  8. perch — the fish
  9. clip — a video
  10. field — a subject
  11. perch — for a bird
  12. prune — the fruit
  13. kid — to tease
  14. prune — to trim
  15. foot — the bottom
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. season — of the year
  18. hand — part of the body
  19. kid — child
  20. perch — for a bird
  21. prune — to trim
  22. season — in sport
  23. season — to add flavour
  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