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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  3. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  4. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. We're on a ________________ here.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  10. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  11. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  14. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  15. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  16. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  17. You don't need to ________________ round.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  23. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  24. We're almost out of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. pop — music
  3. track — a path
  4. track — a song
  5. chest — of your body
  6. field — a subject
  7. roll — on a roll
  8. chest — of your body
  9. file — a tool
  10. wind — to turn a key
  11. wind — moving air
  12. file — a line of people
  13. roll — a list
  14. roll — a cake
  15. track — to keep track
  16. pit — in a race
  17. pop — to visit
  18. field — farmland
  19. wind — moving air
  20. file — a document
  21. chest — a box
  22. pit — a fruit stone
  23. pit — a hole
  24. pop — soda

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