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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 · lie · chest · object · race · current · clip · bat

  1. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  9. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  12. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  13. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  14. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  15. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  16. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  17. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  20. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. bat — in an idiom
  3. bat — the animal
  4. chest — of your body
  5. clip — a video
  6. chest — a box
  7. field — a subject
  8. object — a thing
  9. object — to protest
  10. clip — for paper
  11. current — happening now
  12. object — an aim
  13. race — a contest
  14. current — electric
  15. lie — an untruth
  16. current — of water
  17. race — humankind
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. race — the arms race
  20. lie — an untruth
  21. clip — to cut
  22. lie — to recline
  23. field — for sport
  24. chest — of your body

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