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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. I can't ________________ this cold.
  3. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  4. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  12. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  20. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  21. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  24. There's no middle ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. stand — to bear
  3. craft — a handicraft
  4. wind — moving air
  5. field — a subject
  6. game — wild animals
  7. clip — to cut
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. craft — boats
  10. game — a match
  11. stand — for spectators
  12. stand — on your feet
  13. chest — a box
  14. field — farmland
  15. chest — of your body
  16. ground — the earth
  17. field — for sport
  18. chest — of your body
  19. wind — moving air
  20. craft — a skill
  21. game — a kind of play
  22. clip — a video
  23. ground — crushed
  24. ground — a position

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