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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. That was a fun ________________.
  2. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  5. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  6. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  7. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  17. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  21. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  22. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  23. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  24. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a match
  2. mark — to pay attention
  3. game — wild animals
  4. pass — to succeed
  5. lie — to recline
  6. lie — an untruth
  7. wax — for sculpting
  8. clip — a video
  9. mark — a grade
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. field — farmland
  12. cold — not warm
  13. clip — for paper
  14. field — for sport
  15. cold — an illness
  16. wax — in the ear
  17. wax — to grow
  18. field — a subject
  19. clip — to cut
  20. mark — a trace
  21. pass — a permit
  22. game — a kind of play
  23. lie — an untruth
  24. pass — to spend time

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