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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  3. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  4. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  5. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  6. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  7. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  8. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  11. That was a fun ________________.
  12. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  13. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  18. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  19. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  22. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  23. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. craft — a skill
  3. leaves — to go away
  4. pitch — completely
  5. pitch — a sales talk
  6. craft — a handicraft
  7. kick — a thrill
  8. face — to confront
  9. field — for sport
  10. game — a kind of play
  11. game — a match
  12. pitch — a sports field
  13. leaves — lets stay
  14. field — farmland
  15. face — part of the head
  16. clip — a video
  17. craft — boats
  18. face — to point toward
  19. game — wild animals
  20. clip — to cut
  21. leaves — of a tree
  22. kick — in football
  23. kick — with a leg
  24. field — a subject

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