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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 116 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. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  3. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. How do you ________________ your surname?
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  10. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  13. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  14. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  15. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  18. Have you found your soul ________________?
  19. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  24. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. spell — a short time
  3. band — a rubber band
  4. file — a tool
  5. spell — letters
  6. field — farmland
  7. shower — rain
  8. clip — to cut
  9. mouse — the animal
  10. band — a music group
  11. clip — a video
  12. file — a document
  13. band — a ring
  14. spell — magic
  15. mouse — for a computer
  16. clip — for paper
  17. file — a line of people
  18. mate — a partner
  19. shower — to wash
  20. field — for sport
  21. mate — a friend
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. mouse — the animal
  24. mate — to breed

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