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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. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  6. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  7. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  10. He was locked up in a ________________.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  13. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  14. The King held a masked ________________.
  15. False peace will not ________________.
  16. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  17. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  20. We're on a ________________ here.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  24. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!

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

Answer key

  1. race — a contest
  2. field — for sport
  3. ball — a round shape
  4. clip — to cut
  5. last — final
  6. roll — a cake
  7. race — humankind
  8. clip — a video
  9. last — finally
  10. cell — in a prison
  11. field — farmland
  12. race — the arms race
  13. ball — a great time
  14. ball — a dance
  15. last — to go on
  16. ruler — a monarch
  17. ruler — for measuring
  18. clip — for paper
  19. ruler — for measuring
  20. roll — on a roll
  21. field — a subject
  22. cell — in biology
  23. roll — a list
  24. cell — a phone

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