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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: cold · rule · lean · clip · field · mark · calf · board

  1. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  2. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  6. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  11. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  14. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  17. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  20. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  21. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  22. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  23. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — to bend
  2. calf — of the leg
  3. cold — an illness
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. rule — government
  6. lean — thin
  7. cold — not warm
  8. board — a committee
  9. field — a subject
  10. mark — a grade
  11. board — a flat piece
  12. clip — a video
  13. lean — to rest against
  14. calf — a young animal
  15. clip — for paper
  16. rule — to rule out
  17. mark — a trace
  18. clip — to cut
  19. calf — a young animal
  20. mark — to pay attention
  21. board — to get on
  22. rule — a law
  23. field — farmland
  24. field — for sport

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