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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. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  5. My mare is ________________ in color.
  6. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  7. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  8. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  9. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  13. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  16. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  17. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  24. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.

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

Answer key

  1. bay — a part of the sea
  2. clip — a video
  3. clip — to cut
  4. wound — an injury
  5. bay — a horse colour
  6. bass — the instrument
  7. row — a quarrel
  8. pit — a hole
  9. bay — to keep at bay
  10. hand — help
  11. hand — in cards
  12. wound — an injury
  13. bass — the fish
  14. clip — for paper
  15. wound — past of 'wind'
  16. pit — a fruit stone
  17. row — to paddle
  18. field — a subject
  19. row — a line
  20. field — for sport
  21. bass — low music
  22. field — farmland
  23. hand — part of the body
  24. pit — in a race

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