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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: snap · clip · stem · roll · hand · field · swing · rule

  1. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. We're on a ________________ here.
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  7. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  12. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  13. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  19. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  20. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  21. David sat on the ________________.
  22. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  23. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  24. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. hand — help
  3. roll — on a roll
  4. hand — in cards
  5. clip — for paper
  6. swing — in golf
  7. stem — to come from
  8. clip — a video
  9. rule — to rule out
  10. field — farmland
  11. roll — a cake
  12. rule — government
  13. stem — a stem cell
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. rule — a law
  16. clip — to cut
  17. field — for sport
  18. roll — a list
  19. stem — of a plant
  20. snap — to speak sharply
  21. swing — to play on
  22. swing — music
  23. snap — to click
  24. snap — to snap out of it

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