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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: field · staff · mate · chest · mouse · mine · clip · land

  1. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. Have you found your soul ________________?
  8. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  12. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  16. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  19. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  20. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. chest — of your body
  3. field — a subject
  4. land — ground
  5. mouse — the animal
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. mate — a partner
  8. staff — a stick
  9. field — for sport
  10. land — to come down
  11. mouse — for a computer
  12. mate — to breed
  13. clip — a video
  14. mine — for digging
  15. mouse — the animal
  16. mate — a friend
  17. chest — a box
  18. staff — employees
  19. chest — of your body
  20. staff — employees
  21. clip — for paper
  22. land — a country
  23. clip — to cut
  24. mine — belonging to me

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