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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. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  4. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  7. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  8. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  17. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  20. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  24. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — the season
  2. field — for sport
  3. snap — to snap out of it
  4. stick — to attach or keep to
  5. clip — for paper
  6. chair — a professorship
  7. snap — to speak sharply
  8. fall — to drop
  9. field — a subject
  10. chair — a leader
  11. bat — the animal
  12. wind — moving air
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. clip — a video
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. fall — to drop
  17. snap — to click
  18. field — farmland
  19. stick — a piece of wood
  20. wind — moving air
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. clip — to cut
  23. chair — to sit on
  24. stick — a piece of wood

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