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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: kid · leaves · clip · saw · field · pit · wax · straw

  1. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  5. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  6. She's very handy with a ________________.
  7. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  8. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  9. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. He works in a ________________ mill.
  17. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  19. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  20. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  21. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  22. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. wax — to grow
  3. field — farmland
  4. straw — to clutch at straws
  5. pit — a fruit stone
  6. saw — the tool
  7. saw — past of 'see'
  8. pit — a hole
  9. kid — child
  10. clip — for paper
  11. field — a subject
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. kid — to tease
  14. wax — in the ear
  15. field — for sport
  16. saw — the tool
  17. leaves — of a tree
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  19. wax — for sculpting
  20. leaves — to go away
  21. straw — dry grass
  22. pit — in a race
  23. clip — a video
  24. leaves — lets stay

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