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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 124 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 stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  3. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  7. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  8. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  9. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  10. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  11. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  12. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  16. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  17. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  18. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. It's one o'clock ________________.
  21. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  22. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. track — a song
  3. lash — to lash out
  4. clip — a video
  5. clip — to cut
  6. root — of a plant
  7. face — to confront
  8. sharp — with an edge
  9. sharp — clever
  10. track — a path
  11. content — the amount
  12. face — to point toward
  13. clip — for paper
  14. field — farmland
  15. lash — an eyelash
  16. track — to keep track
  17. content — happy
  18. root — of a word
  19. field — a subject
  20. sharp — exactly
  21. face — part of the head
  22. root — the cause
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. lash — a whip stroke

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