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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. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  2. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  9. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  16. I can't ________________ this cold.
  17. My father caught me by the ________________.
  18. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  19. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  20. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  21. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  22. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  23. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  24. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. lean — to bend
  3. field — a subject
  4. field — farmland
  5. arm — a part of something
  6. field — for sport
  7. game — a match
  8. lean — thin
  9. stand — for spectators
  10. clip — a video
  11. file — a document
  12. clip — to cut
  13. clip — for paper
  14. file — a line of people
  15. arm — part of the body
  16. stand — to bear
  17. arm — part of the body
  18. prune — the fruit
  19. game — wild animals
  20. prune — to trim
  21. stand — on your feet
  22. lean — to rest against
  23. file — a tool
  24. game — a kind of play

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