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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. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  2. There's no middle ________________.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  7. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  8. He was locked up in a ________________.
  9. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  10. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  14. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  15. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  18. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  19. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  22. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  23. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  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. kick — in football
  2. ground — a position
  3. cell — a phone
  4. cell — in biology
  5. clip — for paper
  6. scale — for weighing
  7. drill — a practice
  8. cell — in a prison
  9. ground — the earth
  10. prune — to trim
  11. field — farmland
  12. field — for sport
  13. scale — in music
  14. drill — army training
  15. kick — with a leg
  16. field — a subject
  17. prune — to trim
  18. prune — the fruit
  19. scale — size or range
  20. clip — a video
  21. drill — the tool
  22. ground — crushed
  23. kick — a thrill
  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