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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: mug · field · chest · game · tear · wake · clip · cue

  1. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  7. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. Where did you ________________ them?
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  14. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  17. That was a fun ________________.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  20. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  21. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  22. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  23. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. mug — a face
  4. chest — of your body
  5. clip — to cut
  6. tear — from crying
  7. cue — for pool
  8. field — farmland
  9. wake — a trail
  10. field — a subject
  11. mug — to rob
  12. chest — of your body
  13. tear — to rip
  14. mug — a cup
  15. clip — for paper
  16. tear — from crying
  17. game — a match
  18. chest — a box
  19. game — wild animals
  20. cue — a hint
  21. cue — a signal
  22. wake — to stop sleeping
  23. wake — before a funeral
  24. clip — a video

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