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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. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  2. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  7. He was locked up in a ________________.
  8. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  9. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  10. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  14. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  15. When will it ________________ you to start?
  16. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  17. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  18. When was this ________________ built?
  19. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  22. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  23. There's no middle ________________.
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mark — to pay attention
  2. temple — a place of worship
  3. clip — a video
  4. temple — side of the head
  5. field — farmland
  6. cell — in biology
  7. cell — in a prison
  8. ground — crushed
  9. trunk — of a tree
  10. ground — the earth
  11. clip — to cut
  12. field — a subject
  13. mark — a grade
  14. trunk — of an elephant
  15. suit — to fit
  16. trunk — of a car
  17. suit — clothes
  18. temple — a place of worship
  19. suit — in cards
  20. clip — for paper
  21. cell — a phone
  22. mark — a trace
  23. ground — a position
  24. field — for 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