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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: bear · hand · clip · field · season · lie · drill · pop

  1. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  6. We're almost out of ________________.
  7. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  10. Did you ________________ the meat?
  11. You don't need to ________________ round.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  14. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  15. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  16. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  17. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  18. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  19. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  22. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  23. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  24. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bear — the animal
  2. field — for sport
  3. clip — for paper
  4. clip — a video
  5. drill — a practice
  6. pop — soda
  7. lie — to recline
  8. clip — to cut
  9. season — in sport
  10. season — to add flavour
  11. pop — to visit
  12. hand — in cards
  13. drill — army training
  14. season — of the year
  15. pop — music
  16. bear — the animal
  17. lie — an untruth
  18. bear — to put up with
  19. hand — help
  20. field — a subject
  21. drill — the tool
  22. lie — an untruth
  23. hand — part of the body
  24. field — farmland

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