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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: tear · clip · bowl · field · band · fork

  1. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  3. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  6. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  9. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  10. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  13. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  14. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  18. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. bowl — to roll
  3. fork — in a road
  4. clip — for paper
  5. band — a ring
  6. band — a music group
  7. clip — a video
  8. bowl — a dish
  9. tear — from crying
  10. fork — to eat with
  11. field — a subject
  12. tear — to rip
  13. band — a rubber band
  14. tear — from crying
  15. field — for sport
  16. field — farmland
  17. bowl — a football final
  18. fork — a garden tool

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