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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. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  9. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  14. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  17. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  20. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. Did you ________________ the meat?
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. track — a song
  2. field — for sport
  3. clip — a video
  4. track — to keep track
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. face — part of the head
  7. clip — to cut
  8. scale — in music
  9. season — of the year
  10. clip — for paper
  11. scale — for weighing
  12. field — farmland
  13. face — to point toward
  14. shower — to wash
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. shower — rain
  17. scale — size or range
  18. bat — the animal
  19. track — a path
  20. face — to confront
  21. field — a subject
  22. season — to add flavour
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. season — in sport

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