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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 stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  3. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  6. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  7. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  10. Did you ________________ the meat?
  11. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  12. She's very handy with a ________________.
  13. He works in a ________________ mill.
  14. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  15. Have you met the new head ________________?
  16. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  22. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  23. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. race — a contest
  3. rock — to move gently
  4. clip — for paper
  5. season — of the year
  6. saw — past of 'see'
  7. season — in sport
  8. field — farmland
  9. coach — a trainer
  10. season — to add flavour
  11. race — the arms race
  12. saw — the tool
  13. saw — the tool
  14. rock — a stone
  15. coach — a trainer
  16. coach — pulled by horses
  17. clip — to cut
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. race — humankind
  20. clip — a video
  21. straw — dry grass
  22. rock — music
  23. straw — a straw man
  24. field — a subject

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