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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. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  4. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. The ball is in your ________________.
  10. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  11. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  12. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  13. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  16. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  17. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  18. My father caught me by the ________________.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  22. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. I'd like to play a game of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. clip — to cut
  3. squash — the vegetable
  4. drill — a practice
  5. kid — to tease
  6. court — of a king
  7. field — a subject
  8. clip — for paper
  9. court — for sport
  10. dip — a sauce
  11. dip — to sink
  12. court — of law
  13. dip — to dunk
  14. kid — child
  15. drill — the tool
  16. drill — army training
  17. arm — part of the body
  18. arm — part of the body
  19. clip — a video
  20. field — farmland
  21. squash — to crush
  22. arm — a part of something
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. squash — the 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