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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. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. Have you found your soul ________________?
  8. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  11. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  12. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. Where did you ________________ them?
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  22. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  23. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  24. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mug — a face
  2. field — farmland
  3. chair — a leader
  4. clip — for paper
  5. squash — the vegetable
  6. field — for sport
  7. mate — a partner
  8. mate — a friend
  9. spring — a coil
  10. scale — for weighing
  11. mate — to breed
  12. chair — to sit on
  13. clip — to cut
  14. mug — a cup
  15. spring — of water
  16. mug — to rob
  17. clip — a video
  18. scale — in music
  19. field — a subject
  20. spring — the season
  21. chair — a professorship
  22. squash — the sport
  23. squash — to crush
  24. scale — size or range

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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