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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. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  2. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  3. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. Where did you ________________ them?
  6. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  7. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  8. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  9. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  10. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  13. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  14. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  20. There's no middle ________________.
  21. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — to crush
  2. mug — a face
  3. lie — to recline
  4. clip — to cut
  5. mug — to rob
  6. squash — the vegetable
  7. kick — in football
  8. mug — a cup
  9. ground — the earth
  10. kick — a thrill
  11. field — a subject
  12. lie — an untruth
  13. kick — with a leg
  14. hand — help
  15. clip — a video
  16. squash — the sport
  17. clip — for paper
  18. hand — in cards
  19. lie — an untruth
  20. ground — a position
  21. hand — part of the body
  22. field — farmland
  23. ground — crushed
  24. field — for sport

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