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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. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  2. He was locked up in a ________________.
  3. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  4. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  5. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  6. When will it ________________ you to start?
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  17. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  18. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  19. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  20. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  21. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  22. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  23. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  24. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!

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

Answer key

  1. suit — clothes
  2. cell — in a prison
  3. row — a line
  4. rule — government
  5. wound — an injury
  6. suit — to fit
  7. clip — to cut
  8. clip — a video
  9. field — a subject
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. suit — in cards
  13. clip — for paper
  14. rule — a law
  15. field — for sport
  16. row — a quarrel
  17. row — to paddle
  18. mine — belonging to me
  19. mine — for digging
  20. rule — to rule out
  21. cell — in biology
  22. wound — an injury
  23. field — farmland
  24. cell — a phone

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