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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.

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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: fork · bat · clip · calf · field · lie · swing · bulb

  1. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  2. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  5. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  6. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  7. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. The light ________________ burned out.
  10. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. I've got to change the light ________________.
  13. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  14. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  15. David sat on the ________________.
  16. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  20. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  21. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. calf — of the leg
  2. bat — in an idiom
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. lie — an untruth
  5. calf — a young animal
  6. lie — to recline
  7. swing — in golf
  8. clip — to cut
  9. bulb — for light
  10. fork — a garden tool
  11. field — farmland
  12. bulb — for light
  13. bulb — of a plant
  14. fork — to eat with
  15. swing — to play on
  16. swing — music
  17. clip — for paper
  18. field — for sport
  19. calf — a young animal
  20. lie — an untruth
  21. fork — in a road
  22. field — a subject
  23. clip — a video
  24. bat — the animal

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