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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. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  3. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  7. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  8. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  19. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  22. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  23. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  24. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. bowl — to roll
  3. hand — part of the body
  4. field — for sport
  5. hand — help
  6. can — to be able to
  7. chip — in a computer
  8. can — a tin
  9. wind — moving air
  10. bowl — a dish
  11. field — a subject
  12. hand — in cards
  13. clip — to cut
  14. clip — for paper
  15. chip — to eat
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. wind — moving air
  18. can — a tin
  19. chip — for betting
  20. field — farmland
  21. race — a contest
  22. race — humankind
  23. race — the arms race
  24. bowl — a football final

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