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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: cell · field · clip · tear · lean · rule

  1. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  2. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  3. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. He was locked up in a ________________.
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  18. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?

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

Answer key

  1. cell — a phone
  2. lean — to rest against
  3. lean — thin
  4. clip — for paper
  5. rule — to rule out
  6. clip — a video
  7. cell — in a prison
  8. tear — to rip
  9. lean — to bend
  10. clip — to cut
  11. rule — a law
  12. cell — in biology
  13. tear — from crying
  14. field — farmland
  15. field — a subject
  16. field — for sport
  17. tear — from crying
  18. rule — government

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