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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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: chest · fork · clip · hide · field · race

  1. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  5. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  10. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — in a road
  2. field — for sport
  3. clip — to cut
  4. race — a contest
  5. race — humankind
  6. chest — of your body
  7. fork — a garden tool
  8. clip — for paper
  9. fork — to eat with
  10. hide — animal skin
  11. field — a subject
  12. hide — to keep secret
  13. clip — a video
  14. hide — to keep secret
  15. chest — a box
  16. chest — of your body
  17. field — farmland
  18. race — the arms race

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