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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 116 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. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  4. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  9. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  10. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  17. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — in an idiom
  2. field — farmland
  3. object — a thing
  4. object — to protest
  5. clip — a video
  6. rule — government
  7. land — to come down
  8. rule — a law
  9. object — an aim
  10. wake — to stop sleeping
  11. clip — for paper
  12. chair — a professorship
  13. clip — to cut
  14. rule — to rule out
  15. field — a subject
  16. chair — a leader
  17. wake — a trail
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. field — for sport
  20. wake — before a funeral
  21. land — a country
  22. chair — to sit on
  23. land — ground
  24. bat — the animal

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