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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 116 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. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  2. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. The King held a masked ________________.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. He works in a ________________ mill.
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  11. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. I can't ________________ this cold.
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  20. She's very handy with a ________________.
  21. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  22. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  23. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  24. The kitten curled into a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — to bend
  2. lean — thin
  3. game — wild animals
  4. ball — a dance
  5. clip — to cut
  6. field — for sport
  7. saw — the tool
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. clip — for paper
  10. race — the arms race
  11. stand — on your feet
  12. game — a match
  13. ball — a great time
  14. clip — a video
  15. stand — to bear
  16. field — a subject
  17. lean — to rest against
  18. field — farmland
  19. stand — for spectators
  20. saw — the tool
  21. race — humankind
  22. race — a contest
  23. saw — past of 'see'
  24. ball — a round shape

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