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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: chest · kid · clip · cell · safe · land · ball · field

  1. When are we going to ________________?
  2. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  10. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  11. The King held a masked ________________.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. He was locked up in a ________________.
  22. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  23. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. safe — a strongbox
  3. clip — a video
  4. chest — a box
  5. field — a subject
  6. ball — a great time
  7. field — farmland
  8. field — for sport
  9. safe — out of danger
  10. safe — out of danger
  11. ball — a dance
  12. clip — for paper
  13. cell — a phone
  14. land — ground
  15. clip — to cut
  16. land — a country
  17. chest — of your body
  18. chest — of your body
  19. cell — in biology
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. cell — in a prison
  22. kid — to tease
  23. ball — a round shape
  24. kid — child

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