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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 116 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. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  6. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  7. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  8. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  9. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  12. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  13. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  14. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  15. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  23. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  24. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. chair — a leader
  3. clip — to cut
  4. clip — for paper
  5. trunk — of an elephant
  6. pass — a permit
  7. pass — to succeed
  8. wax — in the ear
  9. trunk — of a car
  10. field — a subject
  11. wax — to grow
  12. wax — for sculpting
  13. pass — to spend time
  14. chair — a professorship
  15. chair — to sit on
  16. field — farmland
  17. trunk — of a tree
  18. hand — help
  19. capital — a city
  20. capital — money
  21. clip — a video
  22. capital — a big letter
  23. hand — in cards
  24. hand — part of the body

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