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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: ruler · chest · rest · field · clip · ground · bank · bat

  1. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  2. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  12. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  17. There's no middle ________________.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  20. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  21. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  22. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  23. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. ruler — for measuring
  2. bank — of a river
  3. clip — a video
  4. rest — what's left
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. field — for sport
  7. field — farmland
  8. chest — a box
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. chest — of your body
  11. bank — for money
  12. ground — the earth
  13. field — a subject
  14. chest — of your body
  15. clip — for paper
  16. rest — a break
  17. ground — a position
  18. clip — to cut
  19. ruler — a monarch
  20. bank — for money
  21. rest — what's left
  22. ruler — for measuring
  23. ground — crushed
  24. bat — the animal

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