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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. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. I can't ________________ this cold.
  4. The ________________ took off on time.
  5. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  6. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  7. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  8. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  17. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  18. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  19. False peace will not ________________.
  20. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  21. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  22. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  23. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  24. Do you need a ________________ with that?

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

Answer key

  1. last — finally
  2. field — farmland
  3. stand — to bear
  4. plane — an aircraft
  5. track — to keep track
  6. plane — a tool
  7. plane — in geometry
  8. march — the month
  9. clip — for paper
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. march — the month
  12. clip — to cut
  13. field — a subject
  14. clip — a video
  15. field — for sport
  16. stand — on your feet
  17. last — final
  18. stand — for spectators
  19. last — to go on
  20. track — a song
  21. track — a path
  22. march — music
  23. hand — in cards
  24. hand — help

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