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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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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: straw · lean · bulb · field · squash · clip · club · race

  1. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  2. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  3. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  4. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  7. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  8. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  15. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  19. I've got to change the light ________________.
  20. The light ________________ burned out.
  21. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  22. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — to bend
  2. squash — the sport
  3. club — a group
  4. race — a contest
  5. field — for sport
  6. race — the arms race
  7. lean — to rest against
  8. straw — dry grass
  9. field — farmland
  10. bulb — of a plant
  11. clip — to cut
  12. lean — thin
  13. clip — for paper
  14. straw — a straw man
  15. squash — to crush
  16. field — a subject
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. squash — the vegetable
  19. bulb — for light
  20. bulb — for light
  21. club — for dancing
  22. club — for golf
  23. clip — a video
  24. race — humankind

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