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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 120 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. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  2. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. Where did you ________________ them?
  15. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  16. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  23. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  24. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. land — ground
  3. field — a subject
  4. clip — a video
  5. stem — a stem cell
  6. land — to come down
  7. stem — to come from
  8. degree — an amount
  9. fine — high quality
  10. field — for sport
  11. field — farmland
  12. mug — a cup
  13. clip — for paper
  14. mug — to rob
  15. fine — a penalty
  16. fine — all right
  17. clip — to cut
  18. degree — temperature
  19. stem — of a plant
  20. degree — from a university
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. wound — an injury
  23. mug — a face
  24. land — a country

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