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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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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 · track · staff · kick · mate · field · straw · pound

  1. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  2. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  3. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  7. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  10. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  11. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  12. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  13. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. Have you found your soul ________________?
  17. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  20. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  21. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  22. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  23. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  24. The old man leaned on his ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — to breed
  2. pound — to hit hard
  3. kick — a thrill
  4. field — farmland
  5. clip — for paper
  6. track — a path
  7. staff — employees
  8. field — a subject
  9. track — a song
  10. kick — in football
  11. track — to keep track
  12. pound — a weight
  13. straw — a straw man
  14. clip — to cut
  15. clip — a video
  16. mate — a partner
  17. staff — employees
  18. field — for sport
  19. straw — dry grass
  20. mate — a friend
  21. kick — with a leg
  22. pound — for dogs
  23. straw — to clutch at straws
  24. staff — a stick

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