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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. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  6. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  7. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  8. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  9. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  10. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  11. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  12. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  13. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. I can't ________________ this cold.
  18. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  19. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  20. Did you ________________ the meat?
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  24. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.

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

Answer key

  1. present — there
  2. clip — a video
  3. field — for sport
  4. field — a subject
  5. present — the time now
  6. rest — a break
  7. season — of the year
  8. wind — moving air
  9. mine — belonging to me
  10. stand — for spectators
  11. mine — for digging
  12. present — a gift
  13. stand — on your feet
  14. clip — for paper
  15. rest — what's left
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. stand — to bear
  18. season — in sport
  19. wind — moving air
  20. season — to add flavour
  21. clip — to cut
  22. field — farmland
  23. rest — what's left
  24. wind — to turn a key

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