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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: game · mouse · field · chest · scale · clip · kick · bowl

  1. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  4. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  5. That was a fun ________________.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  11. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  12. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  13. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  14. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  18. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  21. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  24. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — a box
  2. field — a subject
  3. bowl — a dish
  4. mouse — the animal
  5. game — a match
  6. clip — a video
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. bowl — to roll
  9. chest — of your body
  10. kick — a thrill
  11. kick — in football
  12. scale — in music
  13. game — wild animals
  14. kick — with a leg
  15. field — farmland
  16. clip — for paper
  17. mouse — for a computer
  18. scale — for weighing
  19. clip — to cut
  20. mouse — the animal
  21. chest — of your body
  22. field — for sport
  23. scale — size or range
  24. bowl — a football final

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