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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. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  4. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  7. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  8. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  9. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  10. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. I'll be taking the ________________.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  20. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  21. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  22. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  23. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. drill — a practice
  2. clip — a video
  3. current — electric
  4. band — a ring
  5. hand — help
  6. drill — army training
  7. wound — an injury
  8. current — of water
  9. band — a music group
  10. tube — in a tire
  11. clip — for paper
  12. field — farmland
  13. field — for sport
  14. clip — to cut
  15. tube — the underground
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. hand — in cards
  19. band — a rubber band
  20. current — happening now
  21. drill — the tool
  22. wound — an injury
  23. tube — a container
  24. field — a subject

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