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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. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  3. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  10. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  11. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  12. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  20. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  21. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  22. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  23. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  24. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. can — to be able to
  3. bowl — a dish
  4. clip — a video
  5. shower — to wash
  6. field — a subject
  7. shower — rain
  8. clip — to cut
  9. scale — size or range
  10. bowl — to roll
  11. scale — for weighing
  12. can — a tin
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. clip — for paper
  15. can — a tin
  16. chest — a box
  17. hand — in cards
  18. field — for sport
  19. chest — of your body
  20. scale — in music
  21. chest — of your body
  22. hand — help
  23. hand — part of the body
  24. bowl — a football final

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