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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. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  2. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  3. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  4. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  5. The ________________ went through the wall.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  10. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  15. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  16. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  17. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  18. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  19. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  23. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. nail — on a finger
  2. march — music
  3. track — a song
  4. club — for golf
  5. nail — for a hammer
  6. field — farmland
  7. staff — employees
  8. cold — an illness
  9. club — for dancing
  10. content — happy
  11. field — a subject
  12. march — the month
  13. field — for sport
  14. club — a group
  15. content — the amount
  16. staff — employees
  17. staff — a stick
  18. nail — for a hammer
  19. content — videos and posts
  20. march — the month
  21. cold — not warm
  22. track — to keep track
  23. track — a path
  24. cold — the Cold War

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