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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: field · stem · row · tear · straw · swing · clip · fork

  1. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  2. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  6. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  7. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  8. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  9. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. David sat on the ________________.
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  15. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  16. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  19. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  20. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  21. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  22. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  23. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — a garden tool
  2. straw — to clutch at straws
  3. field — farmland
  4. clip — for paper
  5. straw — dry grass
  6. row — to paddle
  7. stem — of a plant
  8. swing — in golf
  9. stem — a stem cell
  10. field — for sport
  11. clip — a video
  12. swing — to play on
  13. tear — from crying
  14. fork — in a road
  15. straw — a straw man
  16. row — a line
  17. field — a subject
  18. swing — music
  19. stem — to come from
  20. row — a quarrel
  21. tear — to rip
  22. tear — from crying
  23. fork — to eat with
  24. clip — to cut

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