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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. I'll be taking the ________________.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  8. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  11. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  12. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  15. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  16. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  20. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  23. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  24. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. tube — the underground
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. clip — a video
  5. hide — animal skin
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. hide — to keep secret
  8. bear — the animal
  9. field — a subject
  10. chair — a leader
  11. chair — a professorship
  12. hide — to keep secret
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. tube — in a tire
  15. tube — a container
  16. wind — moving air
  17. clip — for paper
  18. bat — the animal
  19. chair — to sit on
  20. bear — the animal
  21. field — for sport
  22. bear — to put up with
  23. field — farmland
  24. wind — moving air

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