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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.

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: field · clip · row · swing · lean · ground · tear · ball

  1. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  2. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  3. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. There's no middle ________________.
  6. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  9. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  10. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. The King held a masked ________________.
  13. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  14. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  15. David sat on the ________________.
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. He is as ________________ as a wolf.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a great time
  2. lean — to rest against
  3. tear — from crying
  4. field — a subject
  5. ground — a position
  6. ground — crushed
  7. clip — to cut
  8. ball — a round shape
  9. swing — in golf
  10. row — a quarrel
  11. clip — for paper
  12. ball — a dance
  13. lean — to bend
  14. tear — from crying
  15. swing — to play on
  16. tear — to rip
  17. ground — the earth
  18. field — farmland
  19. field — for sport
  20. row — a line
  21. clip — a video
  22. swing — music
  23. row — to paddle
  24. lean — thin

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