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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: tear · cue · clip · sharp · saw · kid · pitcher · field

  1. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  2. He is an ace ________________.
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  5. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. It's one o'clock ________________.
  9. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  10. She's very handy with a ________________.
  11. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  12. He works in a ________________ mill.
  13. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. cue — for pool
  2. pitcher — in baseball
  3. kid — child
  4. tear — to rip
  5. pitcher — a jug
  6. clip — for paper
  7. kid — to tease
  8. sharp — exactly
  9. sharp — with an edge
  10. saw — the tool
  11. tear — from crying
  12. saw — the tool
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. field — farmland
  15. sharp — clever
  16. field — a subject
  17. cue — a hint
  18. clip — to cut
  19. cue — a signal
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. tear — from crying
  22. saw — past of 'see'
  23. field — for sport
  24. clip — a video

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