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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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. How do you ________________ your surname?
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  6. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  7. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  8. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  11. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  14. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  15. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  20. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  21. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  22. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  23. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. field — farmland
  3. spell — letters
  4. cell — a phone
  5. wave — of the sea
  6. hand — part of the body
  7. wake — to stop sleeping
  8. vault — an arched ceiling
  9. clip — a video
  10. wake — a trail
  11. spell — magic
  12. clip — for paper
  13. cell — in biology
  14. wake — before a funeral
  15. wave — with your hand
  16. field — for sport
  17. cell — in a prison
  18. hand — in cards
  19. spell — a short time
  20. wave — a sudden rise
  21. vault — a safe
  22. vault — in gymnastics
  23. hand — help
  24. field — a subject

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