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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. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  2. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  6. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. There's no middle ________________.
  9. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  10. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  11. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  16. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  17. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  18. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  19. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  20. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  21. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  22. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  23. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  24. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — crushed
  2. wave — of the sea
  3. field — a subject
  4. clip — for paper
  5. pitch — a sports field
  6. squash — the sport
  7. clip — a video
  8. ground — a position
  9. pitch — completely
  10. wave — a sudden rise
  11. fall — the season
  12. clip — to cut
  13. pitch — a sales talk
  14. field — for sport
  15. squash — to crush
  16. wave — with your hand
  17. fall — to drop
  18. squash — the vegetable
  19. fall — to drop
  20. wax — to grow
  21. wax — for sculpting
  22. wax — in the ear
  23. ground — the earth
  24. field — farmland

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