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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. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  4. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  9. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  10. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  11. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  12. That was ________________ to happen.
  13. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  14. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  21. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  24. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.

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

Answer key

  1. bore — to tire
  2. field — farmland
  3. bore — to drill
  4. prune — the fruit
  5. clip — for paper
  6. spring — the season
  7. clip — to cut
  8. pitch — a sales talk
  9. prune — to trim
  10. pitch — a sports field
  11. chip — for betting
  12. bound — certain
  13. bound — tied together
  14. chip — to eat
  15. spring — of water
  16. bound — obliged
  17. field — a subject
  18. field — for sport
  19. clip — a video
  20. chip — in a computer
  21. bore — gave birth
  22. spring — a coil
  23. pitch — completely
  24. prune — to trim

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