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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 120 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: field · club · pass · clip · hide · deal · cold · race

  1. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  5. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  11. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  12. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  13. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  14. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  17. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  20. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  21. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  22. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. club — for golf
  3. field — for sport
  4. pass — to succeed
  5. hide — to keep secret
  6. clip — a video
  7. clip — for paper
  8. club — for dancing
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. hide — animal skin
  11. pass — to spend time
  12. hide — to keep secret
  13. pass — a permit
  14. race — a contest
  15. cold — an illness
  16. deal — an agreement
  17. deal — a big deal
  18. clip — to cut
  19. race — humankind
  20. club — a group
  21. deal — to handle
  22. race — the arms race
  23. cold — not warm
  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