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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. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  10. My father caught me by the ________________.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. I can't ________________ this cold.
  13. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  14. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  15. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  16. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  17. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  20. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  21. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  22. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  23. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  24. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. clip — for paper
  3. clip — to cut
  4. field — a subject
  5. race — the arms race
  6. degree — temperature
  7. stand — on your feet
  8. clip — a video
  9. root — the cause
  10. arm — part of the body
  11. degree — an amount
  12. stand — to bear
  13. arm — a part of something
  14. arm — part of the body
  15. root — of a word
  16. stand — for spectators
  17. race — a contest
  18. field — farmland
  19. race — humankind
  20. chest — of your body
  21. root — of a plant
  22. chest — of your body
  23. chest — a box
  24. degree — from a university

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