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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. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  3. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  6. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  7. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  10. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  11. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  12. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  13. Did you ________________ the meat?
  14. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  17. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  22. The King held a masked ________________.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  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. hand — help
  2. rock — music
  3. rule — government
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. season — in sport
  6. ball — a round shape
  7. race — humankind
  8. field — farmland
  9. race — a contest
  10. ball — a great time
  11. rule — a law
  12. race — the arms race
  13. season — to add flavour
  14. season — of the year
  15. clip — to cut
  16. hand — in cards
  17. rule — to rule out
  18. clip — a video
  19. rock — a stone
  20. clip — for paper
  21. rock — to move gently
  22. ball — a dance
  23. field — for sport
  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