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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 train ________________ at six o'clock.
  2. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  3. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  8. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  9. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  10. Have you found your soul ________________?
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  16. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  17. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  18. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  23. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. leaves — to go away
  2. present — there
  3. present — a gift
  4. field — a subject
  5. leaves — of a tree
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. straw — a straw man
  8. straw — to clutch at straws
  9. mate — to breed
  10. mate — a partner
  11. hand — in cards
  12. clip — for paper
  13. hand — help
  14. field — for sport
  15. mate — a friend
  16. present — the time now
  17. leaves — lets stay
  18. wave — with your hand
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. field — farmland
  21. clip — to cut
  22. wave — a sudden rise
  23. wave — of the sea
  24. clip — a video

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