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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 information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  7. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  8. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  9. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  13. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  19. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  20. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  21. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  22. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  23. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a document
  2. clip — to cut
  3. clip — for paper
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. field — for sport
  6. file — a line of people
  7. mark — a trace
  8. trunk — of an elephant
  9. jam — to spread on bread
  10. field — farmland
  11. clip — a video
  12. branch — of a bank
  13. mark — to pay attention
  14. cold — not warm
  15. mark — a grade
  16. file — a tool
  17. field — a subject
  18. trunk — of a tree
  19. branch — a division
  20. trunk — of a car
  21. branch — of a tree
  22. jam — a tight spot
  23. jam — in traffic
  24. cold — an illness

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