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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. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  15. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  16. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  19. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  22. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  23. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  24. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — to roll
  2. hand — help
  3. hand — in cards
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. object — an aim
  6. field — a subject
  7. race — a contest
  8. clip — to cut
  9. wax — for sculpting
  10. clip — a video
  11. wax — to grow
  12. field — for sport
  13. field — farmland
  14. bowl — a football final
  15. wind — moving air
  16. object — to protest
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. object — a thing
  19. race — the arms race
  20. clip — for paper
  21. bowl — a dish
  22. wind — moving air
  23. race — humankind
  24. wax — in the ear

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