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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  3. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  12. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  13. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. That was a fun ________________.
  16. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  17. She's very handy with a ________________.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. He was locked up in a ________________.
  20. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  21. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  22. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  23. He works in a ________________ mill.
  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. clip — for paper
  2. racket — for tennis
  3. saw — past of 'see'
  4. cell — a phone
  5. racket — for tennis
  6. field — for sport
  7. clip — to cut
  8. spring — a coil
  9. spring — the season
  10. spring — of water
  11. cell — in biology
  12. lie — to recline
  13. game — a kind of play
  14. field — farmland
  15. game — a match
  16. lie — an untruth
  17. saw — the tool
  18. field — a subject
  19. cell — in a prison
  20. racket — a loud noise
  21. game — wild animals
  22. lie — an untruth
  23. saw — the tool
  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