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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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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: bat · clip · field · pass · mate · pound · snap · can

  1. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. Have you found your soul ________________?
  5. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  6. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  9. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  10. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  11. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  12. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  15. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  18. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  22. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to snap out of it
  2. clip — to cut
  3. field — farmland
  4. mate — a partner
  5. snap — to speak sharply
  6. can — a tin
  7. field — a subject
  8. can — to be able to
  9. snap — to click
  10. pass — a permit
  11. mate — to breed
  12. pound — a weight
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. pound — for dogs
  15. pass — to succeed
  16. bat — the animal
  17. can — a tin
  18. pound — to hit hard
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. clip — for paper
  21. mate — a friend
  22. pass — to spend time
  23. field — for sport
  24. clip — a video

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