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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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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: arm · root · field · race · present · bat · hide · clip

  1. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  2. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  3. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  4. My father caught me by the ________________.
  5. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  6. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  11. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  16. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  17. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — animal skin
  2. hide — to keep secret
  3. root — of a word
  4. arm — part of the body
  5. hide — to keep secret
  6. root — the cause
  7. field — farmland
  8. root — of a plant
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. race — the arms race
  11. arm — a part of something
  12. clip — for paper
  13. race — a contest
  14. field — a subject
  15. race — humankind
  16. present — the time now
  17. present — a gift
  18. clip — a video
  19. field — for sport
  20. clip — to cut
  21. arm — part of the body
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. present — there
  24. bat — the animal

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