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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. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  2. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  7. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  8. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  9. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  15. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  16. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  17. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  20. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  21. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.

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

Answer key

  1. foot — part of the body
  2. bass — the fish
  3. clip — to cut
  4. rest — what's left
  5. hand — help
  6. hand — part of the body
  7. rest — a break
  8. drill — the tool
  9. bass — the instrument
  10. field — for sport
  11. clip — a video
  12. branch — of a tree
  13. clip — for paper
  14. foot — the bottom
  15. branch — a division
  16. drill — army training
  17. foot — a measure
  18. hand — in cards
  19. rest — what's left
  20. bass — low music
  21. drill — a practice
  22. field — farmland
  23. field — a subject
  24. branch — of a bank

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