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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: club · deal · sharp · clip · land · field · rest · chest

  1. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  4. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  7. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  8. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  9. It's one o'clock ________________.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. When are we going to ________________?
  21. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  22. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — with an edge
  2. clip — to cut
  3. sharp — clever
  4. deal — to handle
  5. land — a country
  6. rest — a break
  7. chest — of your body
  8. deal — a big deal
  9. sharp — exactly
  10. clip — for paper
  11. club — a group
  12. field — a subject
  13. club — for golf
  14. field — for sport
  15. deal — an agreement
  16. field — farmland
  17. chest — a box
  18. club — for dancing
  19. land — ground
  20. land — to come down
  21. rest — what's left
  22. chest — of your body
  23. clip — a video
  24. rest — what's left

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