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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. That must've been a ________________.
  2. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  6. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  7. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  8. False peace will not ________________.
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  14. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  15. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. Have you met the new head ________________?
  23. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  24. When are we going to ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. rush — a thrill
  2. rush — hurry
  3. field — a subject
  4. field — for sport
  5. straw — dry grass
  6. straw — to clutch at straws
  7. coach — pulled by horses
  8. last — to go on
  9. land — ground
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. coach — a trainer
  12. clip — to cut
  13. fork — a garden tool
  14. last — final
  15. rush — to hurry
  16. clip — a video
  17. fork — in a road
  18. land — a country
  19. field — farmland
  20. last — finally
  21. clip — for paper
  22. coach — a trainer
  23. fork — to eat with
  24. land — to come down

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