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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: field · bowl · chest · club · clip · kid · can · mine

  1. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  5. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  11. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  12. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  19. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  20. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  23. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. clip — a video
  3. field — for sport
  4. chest — a box
  5. can — a tin
  6. kid — child
  7. clip — to cut
  8. clip — for paper
  9. chest — of your body
  10. club — for dancing
  11. club — a group
  12. bowl — a football final
  13. field — farmland
  14. can — a tin
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. can — to be able to
  17. kid — to tease
  18. mine — for digging
  19. chest — of your body
  20. club — for golf
  21. field — a subject
  22. bowl — to roll
  23. mine — an explosive
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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