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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 seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. David sat on the ________________.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  5. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  6. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  9. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  12. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  15. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  18. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  19. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  24. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. swing — to play on
  3. clip — for paper
  4. land — a country
  5. firm — a company
  6. firm — decided
  7. field — for sport
  8. swing — music
  9. present — there
  10. land — ground
  11. chair — a professorship
  12. chair — a leader
  13. field — a subject
  14. mine — an explosive
  15. mine — for digging
  16. clip — a video
  17. present — the time now
  18. present — a gift
  19. mine — belonging to me
  20. field — farmland
  21. chair — to sit on
  22. land — to come down
  23. firm — steady
  24. swing — in golf

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