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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: clip · wound · hand · race · perch · field · fall · saw

  1. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  2. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  3. He works in a ________________ mill.
  4. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. She's very handy with a ________________.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  14. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  15. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  16. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  17. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  18. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  19. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  20. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  21. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. I got dealt a bad ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. saw — past of 'see'
  2. wound — an injury
  3. saw — the tool
  4. perch — for a bird
  5. field — a subject
  6. hand — help
  7. fall — the season
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. saw — the tool
  10. clip — for paper
  11. field — farmland
  12. field — for sport
  13. race — humankind
  14. fall — to drop
  15. perch — the fish
  16. race — a contest
  17. fall — to drop
  18. wound — an injury
  19. wound — past of 'wind'
  20. perch — for a bird
  21. race — the arms race
  22. clip — a video
  23. clip — to cut
  24. hand — in cards

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