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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  5. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  6. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  7. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  8. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  13. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  16. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  20. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  21. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. hide — to keep secret
  3. clip — to cut
  4. kick — in football
  5. deal — an agreement
  6. deal — to handle
  7. hide — animal skin
  8. shower — rain
  9. chest — of your body
  10. kick — a thrill
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. kick — with a leg
  13. hide — to keep secret
  14. clip — a video
  15. deal — a big deal
  16. board — to get on
  17. field — farmland
  18. chest — a box
  19. board — a committee
  20. board — a flat piece
  21. shower — to wash
  22. field — a subject
  23. chest — of your body
  24. field — for 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