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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. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  3. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  6. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  7. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  8. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  9. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  10. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  11. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  15. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  16. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  17. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  18. It's one o'clock ________________.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  21. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  22. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  23. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. drill — army training
  3. branch — a division
  4. field — a subject
  5. band — a ring
  6. chip — for betting
  7. wound — an injury
  8. band — a rubber band
  9. branch — of a bank
  10. sharp — clever
  11. band — a music group
  12. field — farmland
  13. file — a tool
  14. drill — a practice
  15. sharp — with an edge
  16. chip — in a computer
  17. branch — of a tree
  18. sharp — exactly
  19. file — a line of people
  20. drill — the tool
  21. wound — an injury
  22. wound — past of 'wind'
  23. chip — to eat
  24. file — a document

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