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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. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  3. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  6. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  7. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  8. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. There's no middle ________________.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  15. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  16. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  17. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  18. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  19. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  20. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. Biology is a ________________ of science.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. branch — of a bank
  3. cap — a lid
  4. clip — for paper
  5. deal — to handle
  6. fall — to drop
  7. deal — a big deal
  8. ground — the earth
  9. field — a subject
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. ground — a position
  12. bat — the animal
  13. field — for sport
  14. ground — crushed
  15. fall — to drop
  16. branch — of a tree
  17. cap — of ice
  18. cap — a hat
  19. deal — an agreement
  20. fall — the season
  21. clip — to cut
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. clip — a video
  24. branch — a division

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