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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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  11. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  18. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  19. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  20. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  21. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  22. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. I had a ________________ with my boss today.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. stick — a piece of wood
  3. spring — the season
  4. stick — a piece of wood
  5. field — farmland
  6. spring — a coil
  7. clip — for paper
  8. mine — an explosive
  9. clip — a video
  10. chair — a professorship
  11. mine — for digging
  12. field — a subject
  13. chair — to sit on
  14. spring — of water
  15. lie — an untruth
  16. field — for sport
  17. chair — a leader
  18. lie — an untruth
  19. lie — to recline
  20. mine — belonging to me
  21. stick — to attach or keep to
  22. row — a line
  23. row — to paddle
  24. row — a quarrel

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