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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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  7. You don't need to ________________ round.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  10. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  11. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  14. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. We're almost out of ________________.
  17. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  21. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  22. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  23. I'll be taking the ________________.
  24. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. tube — in a tire
  3. game — wild animals
  4. pop — music
  5. field — for sport
  6. club — for golf
  7. pop — to visit
  8. field — a subject
  9. march — music
  10. game — a kind of play
  11. club — for dancing
  12. game — a match
  13. tube — a container
  14. bore — gave birth
  15. clip — for paper
  16. pop — soda
  17. march — the month
  18. clip — a video
  19. field — farmland
  20. march — the month
  21. club — a group
  22. bore — to drill
  23. tube — the underground
  24. bore — to tire

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