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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. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  3. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  8. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  9. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  17. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  18. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  23. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  24. I had a ________________ with my boss today.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. wax — for sculpting
  3. wax — in the ear
  4. clip — to cut
  5. chest — of your body
  6. row — a line
  7. pit — in a race
  8. jam — to spread on bread
  9. row — to paddle
  10. chest — of your body
  11. pit — a fruit stone
  12. field — farmland
  13. pit — a hole
  14. chest — a box
  15. field — a subject
  16. face — to confront
  17. face — part of the head
  18. jam — in traffic
  19. clip — for paper
  20. wax — to grow
  21. field — for sport
  22. face — to point toward
  23. jam — a tight spot
  24. row — a quarrel

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