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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. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  2. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  7. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  8. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  9. My mare is ________________ in color.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. The ________________ went through the wall.
  17. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  18. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  19. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  20. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  24. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — for digging
  2. straw — dry grass
  3. field — a subject
  4. wake — a trail
  5. field — farmland
  6. race — a contest
  7. straw — to clutch at straws
  8. bay — a part of the sea
  9. bay — a horse colour
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. field — for sport
  12. bay — to keep at bay
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. race — humankind
  15. clip — for paper
  16. nail — for a hammer
  17. wake — to stop sleeping
  18. nail — for a hammer
  19. mine — belonging to me
  20. nail — on a finger
  21. clip — a video
  22. clip — to cut
  23. wake — before a funeral
  24. race — the arms race

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