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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 124 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. Did you ________________ the meat?
  2. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. My father caught me by the ________________.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  8. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  9. When are we going to ________________?
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  12. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  13. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  14. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  15. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  20. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  21. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  22. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  23. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. season — to add flavour
  2. land — ground
  3. arm — part of the body
  4. field — farmland
  5. arm — part of the body
  6. clip — to cut
  7. squash — the sport
  8. season — in sport
  9. land — to come down
  10. field — for sport
  11. squash — the vegetable
  12. object — to protest
  13. bark — to shout
  14. bark — of a tree
  15. season — of the year
  16. clip — a video
  17. land — a country
  18. field — a subject
  19. object — a thing
  20. bark — a dog's sound
  21. object — an aim
  22. squash — to crush
  23. arm — a part of something
  24. clip — for paper

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