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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. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  3. This piece is in a major ________________.
  4. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  5. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  6. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  7. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  8. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  9. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  10. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  11. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  12. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. How do you ________________ your surname?
  15. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  16. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  17. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  21. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  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. field — farmland
  2. trunk — of a car
  3. key — in music
  4. spell — a short time
  5. bass — the instrument
  6. pound — a weight
  7. dip — to sink
  8. pound — for dogs
  9. bass — low music
  10. dip — to dunk
  11. bass — the fish
  12. pound — to hit hard
  13. clip — for paper
  14. spell — letters
  15. trunk — of an elephant
  16. spell — magic
  17. key — the most important part
  18. field — a subject
  19. field — for sport
  20. key — for a lock
  21. dip — a sauce
  22. clip — a video
  23. trunk — of a tree
  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