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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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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 · chip · calf · bat · sharp · field · swing · bore

  1. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  4. David sat on the ________________.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. It's one o'clock ________________.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  13. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  14. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  18. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  19. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  20. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  21. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  24. There's a computer ________________ on the table.

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

Answer key

  1. bore — gave birth
  2. field — farmland
  3. calf — a young animal
  4. swing — to play on
  5. clip — to cut
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. clip — for paper
  8. sharp — exactly
  9. clip — a video
  10. bore — to tire
  11. field — a subject
  12. calf — of the leg
  13. sharp — clever
  14. chip — to eat
  15. bat — the animal
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. swing — music
  18. bore — to drill
  19. swing — in golf
  20. calf — a young animal
  21. chip — for betting
  22. field — for sport
  23. sharp — with an edge
  24. chip — in a computer

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