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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 120 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. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  11. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  12. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  13. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  14. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  15. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  18. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  19. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  20. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  21. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  22. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. clip — to cut
  3. prune — to trim
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. field — a subject
  6. pound — for dogs
  7. bat — the animal
  8. clip — for paper
  9. field — farmland
  10. current — of water
  11. fall — to drop
  12. wake — a trail
  13. wake — before a funeral
  14. fall — to drop
  15. current — electric
  16. field — for sport
  17. pound — to hit hard
  18. fall — the season
  19. prune — the fruit
  20. prune — to trim
  21. current — happening now
  22. wake — to stop sleeping
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. pound — a weight

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