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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. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  4. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  5. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  6. He is an ace ________________.
  7. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  8. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  9. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  10. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  11. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  12. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  13. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  17. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  18. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  19. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  20. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  23. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  24. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. field — a subject
  3. snap — to click
  4. pitch — a sales talk
  5. march — music
  6. pitcher — in baseball
  7. march — the month
  8. snap — to speak sharply
  9. stem — of a plant
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. prune — to trim
  12. stem — to come from
  13. prune — to trim
  14. file — a line of people
  15. field — farmland
  16. march — the month
  17. pitch — a sports field
  18. snap — to snap out of it
  19. pitch — completely
  20. prune — the fruit
  21. file — a document
  22. file — a tool
  23. stem — a stem cell
  24. pitcher — a jug

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