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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 116 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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  7. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  8. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  9. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  10. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  11. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  20. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  21. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  22. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  23. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. track — a path
  3. clip — a video
  4. wax — to grow
  5. field — for sport
  6. straw — a straw man
  7. cue — a signal
  8. cue — for pool
  9. wax — in the ear
  10. fan — a supporter
  11. cue — a hint
  12. field — farmland
  13. track — a song
  14. field — a subject
  15. fan — to cool the air
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. track — to keep track
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. march — the month
  20. march — the month
  21. march — music
  22. wax — for sculpting
  23. fan — a supporter
  24. clip — for paper

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