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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 · snap · band · face · field · nail · lie

  1. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  3. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  7. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  8. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  9. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  10. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  11. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  12. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  13. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  16. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  17. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  18. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  21. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  22. The ________________ went through the wall.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. lie — to recline
  3. band — a rubber band
  4. clip — a video
  5. clip — for paper
  6. lie — an untruth
  7. tear — from crying
  8. face — to confront
  9. nail — for a hammer
  10. tear — to rip
  11. face — to point toward
  12. snap — to snap out of it
  13. snap — to speak sharply
  14. clip — to cut
  15. nail — on a finger
  16. snap — to click
  17. band — a ring
  18. lie — an untruth
  19. field — farmland
  20. face — part of the head
  21. band — a music group
  22. nail — for a hammer
  23. field — for sport
  24. tear — from crying

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