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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  3. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. The ball is in your ________________.
  6. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  7. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  8. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  9. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  10. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  11. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  12. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  13. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  14. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  15. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  23. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  24. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. face — to point toward
  3. row — to paddle
  4. field — a subject
  5. court — for sport
  6. pound — to hit hard
  7. club — for golf
  8. court — of a king
  9. deal — a big deal
  10. row — a quarrel
  11. row — a line
  12. face — to confront
  13. deal — to handle
  14. pound — a weight
  15. club — a group
  16. field — for sport
  17. deal — an agreement
  18. field — farmland
  19. court — of law
  20. clip — a video
  21. clip — to cut
  22. club — for dancing
  23. face — part of the head
  24. pound — for dogs

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