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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 120 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. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  10. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  11. When are we going to ________________?
  12. I'll be taking the ________________.
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  15. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  16. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  19. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  20. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  24. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.

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

Answer key

  1. club — for dancing
  2. clip — for paper
  3. foot — a measure
  4. field — a subject
  5. foot — the bottom
  6. field — for sport
  7. snap — to click
  8. field — farmland
  9. fan — a supporter
  10. tube — a container
  11. land — to come down
  12. tube — the underground
  13. land — ground
  14. foot — part of the body
  15. fan — to cool the air
  16. tube — in a tire
  17. clip — a video
  18. club — for golf
  19. club — a group
  20. fan — a supporter
  21. clip — to cut
  22. land — a country
  23. snap — to snap out of it
  24. snap — to speak sharply

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