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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. My father caught me by the ________________.
  2. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  6. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  7. Did you ________________ the meat?
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  11. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  12. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  13. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  14. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  15. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  16. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  17. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  18. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  19. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  20. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  21. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. arm — part of the body
  2. prune — to trim
  3. field — farmland
  4. clip — for paper
  5. arm — part of the body
  6. jam — in traffic
  7. season — to add flavour
  8. field — for sport
  9. clip — to cut
  10. arm — a part of something
  11. bore — to drill
  12. season — of the year
  13. bore — gave birth
  14. prune — the fruit
  15. jam — a tight spot
  16. jam — to spread on bread
  17. wind — to turn a key
  18. wind — moving air
  19. bore — to tire
  20. wind — moving air
  21. prune — to trim
  22. clip — a video
  23. field — a subject
  24. season — in sport

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