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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. What do you think of the new ________________?
  2. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  3. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  4. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  7. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  8. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  15. Did you ________________ the meat?
  16. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  17. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  21. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  22. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  23. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  24. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cabinet — ministers
  2. pit — a fruit stone
  3. cabinet — ministers
  4. snap — to click
  5. field — farmland
  6. snap — to snap out of it
  7. pound — to hit hard
  8. pit — a hole
  9. clip — to cut
  10. field — a subject
  11. field — for sport
  12. pound — a weight
  13. clip — for paper
  14. snap — to speak sharply
  15. season — to add flavour
  16. straw — a straw man
  17. season — of the year
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. clip — a video
  20. pit — in a race
  21. season — in sport
  22. pound — for dogs
  23. straw — dry grass
  24. cabinet — a cupboard

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