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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: row · chest · present · clip · field · ruler

  1. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  4. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  9. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  13. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  14. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  15. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  16. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  17. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. chest — of your body
  3. present — a gift
  4. ruler — a monarch
  5. field — a subject
  6. chest — a box
  7. clip — a video
  8. row — a line
  9. row — a quarrel
  10. clip — to cut
  11. field — farmland
  12. ruler — for measuring
  13. present — there
  14. ruler — for measuring
  15. chest — of your body
  16. present — the time now
  17. row — to paddle
  18. field — for sport

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