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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. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  4. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  9. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  10. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  11. You don't need to ________________ round.
  12. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  13. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. My father caught me by the ________________.
  17. We're almost out of ________________.
  18. How do you ________________ your surname?
  19. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  22. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. She's sitting on a gold ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. clip — to cut
  3. pop — music
  4. spell — a short time
  5. field — for sport
  6. net — after costs
  7. field — farmland
  8. wax — for sculpting
  9. net — for catching
  10. arm — a part of something
  11. pop — to visit
  12. wax — in the ear
  13. arm — part of the body
  14. clip — a video
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. arm — part of the body
  17. pop — soda
  18. spell — letters
  19. spell — magic
  20. clip — for paper
  21. wax — to grow
  22. net — in sport
  23. field — a subject
  24. mine — for digging

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