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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. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  8. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  13. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  16. The ball is in your ________________.
  17. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  18. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  21. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  22. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  23. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  24. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — with a leg
  2. clip — to cut
  3. file — a tool
  4. field — for sport
  5. march — the month
  6. clip — for paper
  7. march — the month
  8. kick — a thrill
  9. field — a subject
  10. file — a line of people
  11. chest — of your body
  12. file — a document
  13. kick — in football
  14. chest — a box
  15. pass — to succeed
  16. court — for sport
  17. chest — of your body
  18. pass — a permit
  19. clip — a video
  20. pass — to spend time
  21. court — of law
  22. court — of a king
  23. march — music
  24. field — farmland

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