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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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  4. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  5. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  6. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  7. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  10. There's no middle ________________.
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  13. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  14. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. Did you ________________ the meat?
  21. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  24. Let us try to swim against the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. spring — the season
  3. straw — dry grass
  4. season — in sport
  5. chair — a professorship
  6. season — of the year
  7. ground — crushed
  8. field — a subject
  9. straw — a straw man
  10. ground — a position
  11. spring — a coil
  12. chair — to sit on
  13. current — happening now
  14. current — electric
  15. clip — for paper
  16. clip — a video
  17. field — farmland
  18. field — for sport
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. season — to add flavour
  21. chair — a leader
  22. spring — of water
  23. ground — the earth
  24. current — of water

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