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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 116 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. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  2. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  11. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  16. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  17. Don't do anything ________________.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  20. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  23. David sat on the ________________.
  24. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!

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

Answer key

  1. object — to protest
  2. object — a thing
  3. game — wild animals
  4. band — a rubber band
  5. clip — to cut
  6. game — a match
  7. field — a subject
  8. object — an aim
  9. field — farmland
  10. swing — in golf
  11. bear — the animal
  12. clip — a video
  13. band — a music group
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. swing — music
  16. rash — on the skin
  17. rash — hasty
  18. field — for sport
  19. rash — a series
  20. bear — the animal
  21. clip — for paper
  22. band — a ring
  23. swing — to play on
  24. bear — to put up with

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