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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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Word bank
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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: field · hide · bore · bat · bulb · clip

  1. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  4. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  5. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  6. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. I've got to change the light ________________.
  15. The light ________________ burned out.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. bat — in an idiom
  3. hide — to keep secret
  4. hide — to keep secret
  5. bore — to drill
  6. hide — animal skin
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. bore — to tire
  9. field — farmland
  10. field — for sport
  11. bore — gave birth
  12. clip — a video
  13. bat — the animal
  14. bulb — for light
  15. bulb — for light
  16. clip — to cut
  17. clip — for paper
  18. bulb — of a plant

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