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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. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  3. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  4. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  7. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  8. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  9. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  10. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  15. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  16. The ball is in your ________________.
  17. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  22. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  23. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  24. There's a computer ________________ on the table.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. board — a flat piece
  3. staff — a stick
  4. board — to get on
  5. field — farmland
  6. prune — to trim
  7. wind — to turn a key
  8. chip — for betting
  9. staff — employees
  10. court — of law
  11. field — for sport
  12. prune — to trim
  13. wind — moving air
  14. prune — the fruit
  15. wind — moving air
  16. court — for sport
  17. staff — employees
  18. clip — for paper
  19. clip — to cut
  20. clip — a video
  21. board — a committee
  22. court — of a king
  23. chip — to eat
  24. chip — in a computer

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