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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. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  8. David sat on the ________________.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  11. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  12. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  13. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  14. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  18. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  21. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  24. The ball is in your ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. safe — out of danger
  2. clip — for paper
  3. clip — a video
  4. field — farmland
  5. court — of law
  6. field — a subject
  7. court — of a king
  8. swing — to play on
  9. field — for sport
  10. track — a song
  11. safe — out of danger
  12. swing — music
  13. track — to keep track
  14. swing — in golf
  15. clip — to cut
  16. tear — to rip
  17. row — a line
  18. row — a quarrel
  19. tear — from crying
  20. tear — from crying
  21. safe — a strongbox
  22. row — to paddle
  23. track — a path
  24. court — for sport

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