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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. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  3. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  6. Did you ________________ the meat?
  7. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  8. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  9. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  10. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  11. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  12. When will it ________________ you to start?
  13. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  14. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  17. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  18. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  19. False peace will not ________________.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. hand — part of the body
  3. racket — a loud noise
  4. field — a subject
  5. racket — for tennis
  6. season — to add flavour
  7. race — humankind
  8. hand — help
  9. suit — clothes
  10. hand — in cards
  11. race — the arms race
  12. suit — to fit
  13. racket — for tennis
  14. suit — in cards
  15. field — for sport
  16. season — of the year
  17. last — final
  18. last — finally
  19. last — to go on
  20. clip — for paper
  21. race — a contest
  22. clip — a video
  23. clip — to cut
  24. season — in sport

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