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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: clip · field · chair · cold · bay · pound

  1. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  13. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  14. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  15. My mare is ________________ in color.
  16. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  17. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  18. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. field — for sport
  3. cold — an illness
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. clip — a video
  6. clip — for paper
  7. field — a subject
  8. bay — a part of the sea
  9. cold — not warm
  10. chair — a leader
  11. clip — to cut
  12. pound — for dogs
  13. chair — a professorship
  14. bay — to keep at bay
  15. bay — a horse colour
  16. chair — to sit on
  17. pound — to hit hard
  18. pound — a weight

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