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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. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  8. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  9. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  10. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  11. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  14. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  15. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  16. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  17. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  18. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  21. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. field — for sport
  3. clip — to cut
  4. clip — a video
  5. can — a tin
  6. hand — in cards
  7. wound — an injury
  8. dip — to dunk
  9. band — a ring
  10. dip — a sauce
  11. dip — to sink
  12. hand — help
  13. wound — past of 'wind'
  14. can — to be able to
  15. band — a music group
  16. foot — the bottom
  17. foot — part of the body
  18. can — a tin
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. band — a rubber band
  21. wound — an injury
  22. clip — for paper
  23. field — a subject
  24. foot — a measure

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