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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. Did you ________________ the meat?
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  7. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  8. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  16. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  17. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  18. The light ________________ burned out.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. I've got to change the light ________________.
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  23. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  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. season — to add flavour
  2. chest — of your body
  3. file — a document
  4. field — a subject
  5. chest — of your body
  6. season — in sport
  7. bass — low music
  8. cap — a lid
  9. field — for sport
  10. chest — a box
  11. clip — a video
  12. cap — a hat
  13. clip — for paper
  14. file — a line of people
  15. bass — the instrument
  16. season — of the year
  17. bulb — of a plant
  18. bulb — for light
  19. field — farmland
  20. bulb — for light
  21. file — a tool
  22. bass — the fish
  23. cap — of ice
  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