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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. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  6. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  9. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  14. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  15. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  16. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  19. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  20. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. That was ________________ to happen.
  23. He is an ace ________________.
  24. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a quarrel
  2. clip — to cut
  3. mine — an explosive
  4. field — for sport
  5. pitcher — a jug
  6. kid — to tease
  7. field — farmland
  8. pass — to spend time
  9. row — a line
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. clip — a video
  12. kid — child
  13. bound — obliged
  14. pass — a permit
  15. bound — tied together
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. clip — for paper
  18. row — to paddle
  19. mine — for digging
  20. pass — to succeed
  21. field — a subject
  22. bound — certain
  23. pitcher — in baseball
  24. mine — belonging to me

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