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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. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  6. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  9. What do you think of the new ________________?
  10. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  11. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  12. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  13. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  17. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. The ________________ went through the wall.
  22. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  23. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — the season
  2. field — a subject
  3. net — in sport
  4. field — farmland
  5. cabinet — ministers
  6. net — for catching
  7. clip — to cut
  8. straw — dry grass
  9. cabinet — ministers
  10. fall — to drop
  11. net — after costs
  12. cabinet — a cupboard
  13. nail — on a finger
  14. kid — child
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. nail — for a hammer
  17. fall — to drop
  18. kid — to tease
  19. clip — a video
  20. clip — for paper
  21. nail — for a hammer
  22. straw — to clutch at straws
  23. straw — a straw man
  24. field — for sport

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