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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  4. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  5. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  6. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  7. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  8. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  9. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  10. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  11. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  12. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  19. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  22. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  23. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  24. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. field — farmland
  3. branch — a division
  4. vault — a safe
  5. tear — from crying
  6. track — a song
  7. trunk — of an elephant
  8. track — to keep track
  9. root — of a plant
  10. root — the cause
  11. branch — of a bank
  12. tear — from crying
  13. clip — to cut
  14. root — of a word
  15. tear — to rip
  16. field — a subject
  17. clip — a video
  18. branch — of a tree
  19. trunk — of a tree
  20. field — for sport
  21. vault — an arched ceiling
  22. trunk — of a car
  23. vault — in gymnastics
  24. track — a path

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