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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 slowly ________________ towards the light.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  4. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  8. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  9. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  10. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  11. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  18. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  19. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  20. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — to bend
  2. field — a subject
  3. calf — a young animal
  4. fork — in a road
  5. clip — a video
  6. field — farmland
  7. trunk — of a car
  8. trunk — of an elephant
  9. pitch — completely
  10. trunk — of a tree
  11. fork — a garden tool
  12. degree — temperature
  13. fork — to eat with
  14. degree — an amount
  15. lean — to rest against
  16. degree — from a university
  17. calf — a young animal
  18. calf — of the leg
  19. lean — thin
  20. pitch — a sports field
  21. clip — for paper
  22. pitch — a sales talk
  23. field — for sport
  24. clip — to cut

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