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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. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  2. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  4. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  5. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  6. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  9. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. My father caught me by the ________________.
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  19. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  20. When are we going to ________________?
  21. Have you met the new head ________________?
  22. That must've been a ________________.
  23. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. land — ground
  3. race — humankind
  4. race — a contest
  5. race — the arms race
  6. arm — a part of something
  7. chest — a box
  8. rush — hurry
  9. coach — a trainer
  10. field — farmland
  11. chest — of your body
  12. clip — a video
  13. arm — part of the body
  14. field — a subject
  15. field — for sport
  16. arm — part of the body
  17. clip — for paper
  18. rush — to hurry
  19. coach — pulled by horses
  20. land — to come down
  21. coach — a trainer
  22. rush — a thrill
  23. chest — of your body
  24. clip — to cut

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