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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: toast · tear · clip · net · field · suit · hand · mine

  1. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  2. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  7. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  8. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  21. When will it ________________ you to start?
  22. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  23. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  24. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — for digging
  2. toast — a drink to someone
  3. hand — help
  4. suit — in cards
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. net — in sport
  7. tear — to rip
  8. suit — clothes
  9. clip — for paper
  10. field — a subject
  11. toast — the most admired
  12. field — farmland
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. clip — a video
  15. hand — in cards
  16. tear — from crying
  17. clip — to cut
  18. field — for sport
  19. tear — from crying
  20. net — after costs
  21. suit — to fit
  22. toast — bread
  23. net — for catching
  24. mine — belonging to me

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