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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 120 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. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  3. The ________________ market has crashed.
  4. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  5. Did you ________________ the meat?
  6. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  7. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  12. She's very handy with a ________________.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  15. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  16. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  17. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  18. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  19. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. When was this ________________ built?
  22. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  23. He works in a ________________ mill.
  24. The elephant has a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. trunk — of a car
  3. stock — shares
  4. stock — a soup base
  5. season — to add flavour
  6. temple — side of the head
  7. temple — a place of worship
  8. field — a subject
  9. clip — a video
  10. clip — for paper
  11. wound — past of 'wind'
  12. saw — the tool
  13. clip — to cut
  14. season — in sport
  15. season — of the year
  16. trunk — of a tree
  17. saw — past of 'see'
  18. stock — goods
  19. wound — an injury
  20. field — for sport
  21. temple — a place of worship
  22. wound — an injury
  23. saw — the tool
  24. trunk — of an elephant

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