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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. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  7. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  8. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  9. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  10. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  11. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  12. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  13. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  14. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  15. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  16. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  20. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  21. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  22. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — an explosive
  2. clip — for paper
  3. stem — a stem cell
  4. field — farmland
  5. clip — a video
  6. net — in sport
  7. mine — for digging
  8. current — electric
  9. kid — child
  10. straw — dry grass
  11. net — for catching
  12. straw — to clutch at straws
  13. stem — of a plant
  14. net — after costs
  15. current — of water
  16. stem — to come from
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. clip — to cut
  19. kid — to tease
  20. current — happening now
  21. mine — belonging to me
  22. straw — a straw man
  23. field — for sport
  24. field — a subject

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