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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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  3. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  4. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  5. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  6. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  7. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  8. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. Have you found your soul ________________?
  11. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  12. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  13. Have you settled on a ________________?
  14. Don't do anything ________________.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  17. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  20. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  23. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. mate — to breed
  3. mate — a friend
  4. date — the fruit
  5. can — a tin
  6. can — a tin
  7. race — a contest
  8. bore — to drill
  9. field — a subject
  10. mate — a partner
  11. bore — gave birth
  12. race — the arms race
  13. date — on the calendar
  14. rash — hasty
  15. clip — a video
  16. race — humankind
  17. bore — to tire
  18. field — farmland
  19. date — on the calendar
  20. can — to be able to
  21. field — for sport
  22. rash — on the skin
  23. rash — a series
  24. clip — for paper

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