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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. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  8. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  14. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  17. Did you ________________ the button?
  18. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  19. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  20. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. Do you need a ________________ with that?

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. clip — to cut
  3. clip — for paper
  4. field — for sport
  5. fork — a garden tool
  6. wound — an injury
  7. wound — an injury
  8. press — newspapers
  9. clip — a video
  10. kid — to tease
  11. fork — in a road
  12. field — farmland
  13. race — a contest
  14. press — a publisher
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. wound — past of 'wind'
  17. press — to push
  18. fork — to eat with
  19. race — humankind
  20. race — the arms race
  21. field — a subject
  22. hand — in cards
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. hand — help

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