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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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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: clip · bowl · rock · cold · ground · field · stick · fall

  1. There's no middle ________________.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  7. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  8. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  12. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  15. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  20. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  21. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  22. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  23. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  24. Add some ________________ pepper to it.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — a position
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. fall — to drop
  4. field — a subject
  5. clip — to cut
  6. fall — to drop
  7. fall — the season
  8. stick — a piece of wood
  9. cold — not warm
  10. cold — an illness
  11. stick — to attach or keep to
  12. rock — music
  13. clip — a video
  14. rock — to move gently
  15. bowl — to roll
  16. clip — for paper
  17. field — for sport
  18. field — farmland
  19. bowl — a dish
  20. rock — a stone
  21. ground — the earth
  22. stick — a piece of wood
  23. bowl — a football final
  24. ground — crushed

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