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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. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  6. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  7. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  8. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  12. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  13. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  14. The ball is in your ________________.
  15. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  16. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  17. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  18. Don't do anything ________________.
  19. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  20. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  21. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  22. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  23. It's one o'clock ________________.
  24. A ________________ is just a dried plum.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. clip — for paper
  3. clip — to cut
  4. field — a subject
  5. rash — on the skin
  6. chip — in a computer
  7. prune — to trim
  8. sharp — with an edge
  9. field — farmland
  10. clip — a video
  11. court — of a king
  12. court — of law
  13. sharp — clever
  14. court — for sport
  15. branch — of a tree
  16. chip — to eat
  17. rash — a series
  18. rash — hasty
  19. chip — for betting
  20. branch — a division
  21. branch — of a bank
  22. prune — to trim
  23. sharp — exactly
  24. prune — the fruit

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