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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 ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  2. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  6. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  9. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  10. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  15. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  18. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  19. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  24. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. dip — a sauce
  2. cell — in biology
  3. clip — a video
  4. field — for sport
  5. kick — with a leg
  6. current — happening now
  7. clip — for paper
  8. current — of water
  9. cell — a phone
  10. kick — a thrill
  11. field — farmland
  12. band — a music group
  13. field — a subject
  14. dip — to dunk
  15. band — a ring
  16. clip — to cut
  17. chest — of your body
  18. kick — in football
  19. dip — to sink
  20. chest — a box
  21. band — a rubber band
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. current — electric
  24. chest — of your body

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