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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. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  2. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  7. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  8. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  13. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  19. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — animal skin
  2. club — for dancing
  3. bat — the animal
  4. clip — for paper
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. wound — an injury
  7. deal — to handle
  8. deal — an agreement
  9. clip — a video
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. field — for sport
  12. club — for golf
  13. hide — to keep secret
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. capital — a city
  16. club — a group
  17. clip — to cut
  18. deal — a big deal
  19. hide — to keep secret
  20. field — farmland
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. capital — money
  23. field — a subject
  24. wound — an injury

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