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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. There's no middle ________________.
  2. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  3. Have you found your soul ________________?
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  9. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  10. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  15. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  16. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  17. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  20. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  23. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  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. ground — a position
  2. mate — a friend
  3. mate — a partner
  4. clip — for paper
  5. clip — to cut
  6. wound — an injury
  7. wound — an injury
  8. pitch — completely
  9. pitch — a sales talk
  10. ground — crushed
  11. clip — a video
  12. prune — to trim
  13. field — a subject
  14. pitch — a sports field
  15. mate — to breed
  16. prune — the fruit
  17. ground — the earth
  18. field — farmland
  19. perch — for a bird
  20. prune — to trim
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. perch — the fish
  23. perch — for a bird
  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