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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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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: clip · lean · wake · scale · cap · game · lash · field

  1. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  2. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  3. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  7. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. That was a fun ________________.
  12. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  13. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  14. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  19. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  20. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  21. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  22. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  23. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  24. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — before a funeral
  2. lean — to rest against
  3. cap — a hat
  4. field — a subject
  5. game — wild animals
  6. wake — to stop sleeping
  7. lean — thin
  8. clip — a video
  9. field — farmland
  10. clip — for paper
  11. game — a match
  12. lash — a whip stroke
  13. cap — of ice
  14. cap — a lid
  15. clip — to cut
  16. lean — to bend
  17. field — for sport
  18. lash — an eyelash
  19. scale — size or range
  20. scale — for weighing
  21. wake — a trail
  22. lash — to lash out
  23. game — a kind of play
  24. scale — in music

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