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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. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  2. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  3. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  4. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  13. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  14. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  15. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  16. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  17. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  20. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  21. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  22. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.

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

Answer key

  1. present — a gift
  2. race — the arms race
  3. drill — army training
  4. cap — a lid
  5. clip — to cut
  6. present — there
  7. field — a subject
  8. present — the time now
  9. clip — a video
  10. wake — to stop sleeping
  11. field — farmland
  12. lie — an untruth
  13. lie — to recline
  14. race — a contest
  15. drill — a practice
  16. lie — an untruth
  17. cap — a hat
  18. clip — for paper
  19. wake — before a funeral
  20. cap — of ice
  21. race — humankind
  22. drill — the tool
  23. field — for sport
  24. wake — a trail

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