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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: stand · tear · clip · content · field · pitcher · row · object

  1. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  2. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  5. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  10. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  11. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  12. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  13. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  14. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  15. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. He is an ace ________________.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. I can't ________________ this cold.
  21. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  24. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a quarrel
  2. object — to protest
  3. clip — for paper
  4. tear — from crying
  5. tear — to rip
  6. field — for sport
  7. tear — from crying
  8. clip — a video
  9. row — to paddle
  10. stand — on your feet
  11. object — an aim
  12. pitcher — a jug
  13. row — a line
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. content — the amount
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. clip — to cut
  18. pitcher — in baseball
  19. field — farmland
  20. stand — to bear
  21. object — a thing
  22. field — a subject
  23. stand — for spectators
  24. content — happy

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