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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. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  2. When was this ________________ built?
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  6. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  7. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  12. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  13. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  14. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  15. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  16. Have you settled on a ________________?
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  21. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  22. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  23. That was a fun ________________.
  24. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.

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

Answer key

  1. track — a path
  2. temple — a place of worship
  3. clip — a video
  4. clip — to cut
  5. club — for golf
  6. march — music
  7. date — on the calendar
  8. field — a subject
  9. temple — a place of worship
  10. field — for sport
  11. date — the fruit
  12. game — wild animals
  13. march — the month
  14. club — a group
  15. march — the month
  16. date — on the calendar
  17. field — farmland
  18. game — a kind of play
  19. clip — for paper
  20. club — for dancing
  21. track — to keep track
  22. temple — side of the head
  23. game — a match
  24. track — a song

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