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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: chair · racket · march · prune · straw · kick · field · clip

  1. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  3. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  4. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  5. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  6. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  7. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  8. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  9. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  10. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  11. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  12. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  19. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  20. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  21. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  24. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — a straw man
  2. kick — a thrill
  3. kick — in football
  4. prune — the fruit
  5. march — the month
  6. march — music
  7. racket — for tennis
  8. prune — to trim
  9. kick — with a leg
  10. chair — a leader
  11. straw — to clutch at straws
  12. prune — to trim
  13. field — farmland
  14. field — for sport
  15. field — a subject
  16. clip — for paper
  17. clip — a video
  18. chair — a professorship
  19. march — the month
  20. racket — for tennis
  21. straw — dry grass
  22. clip — to cut
  23. chair — to sit on
  24. racket — a loud noise

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