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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. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  2. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  5. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  6. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  14. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  15. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  16. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — past of 'wind'
  2. wound — an injury
  3. spring — a coil
  4. wound — an injury
  5. fine — high quality
  6. file — a tool
  7. clip — to cut
  8. can — a tin
  9. spring — the season
  10. file — a line of people
  11. can — a tin
  12. spring — of water
  13. fine — a penalty
  14. fine — all right
  15. march — the month
  16. can — to be able to
  17. clip — for paper
  18. march — the month
  19. clip — a video
  20. field — farmland
  21. file — a document
  22. field — for sport
  23. field — a subject
  24. march — music

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