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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: fine · clip · prune · tear · chest · deal · field · mate

  1. Have you found your soul ________________?
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  7. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  8. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  9. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  10. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  15. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  20. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  21. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  22. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a partner
  2. chest — of your body
  3. prune — the fruit
  4. field — for sport
  5. clip — a video
  6. mate — a friend
  7. fine — high quality
  8. prune — to trim
  9. fine — all right
  10. prune — to trim
  11. tear — to rip
  12. tear — from crying
  13. clip — for paper
  14. tear — from crying
  15. mate — to breed
  16. clip — to cut
  17. fine — a penalty
  18. chest — a box
  19. deal — an agreement
  20. chest — of your body
  21. deal — a big deal
  22. deal — to handle
  23. field — a subject
  24. field — farmland

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