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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. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  6. Don't do anything ________________.
  7. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  8. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. David sat on the ________________.
  12. Have you found your soul ________________?
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  24. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.

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

Answer key

  1. net — for catching
  2. clip — a video
  3. net — in sport
  4. clip — to cut
  5. rash — a series
  6. rash — hasty
  7. swing — in golf
  8. mate — a friend
  9. chest — of your body
  10. field — a subject
  11. swing — to play on
  12. mate — a partner
  13. chest — of your body
  14. mate — to breed
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. clip — for paper
  17. net — after costs
  18. content — the amount
  19. rash — on the skin
  20. field — for sport
  21. content — happy
  22. field — farmland
  23. chest — a box
  24. swing — music

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