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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. We're almost out of ________________.
  6. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  9. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  10. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  11. That was a fun ________________.
  12. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  13. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  14. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  15. You don't need to ________________ round.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. The ________________ market has crashed.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  20. How do you ________________ your surname?
  21. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  24. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. spell — a short time
  3. field — for sport
  4. field — farmland
  5. pop — soda
  6. pop — music
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. file — a line of people
  9. file — a tool
  10. stock — goods
  11. game — a match
  12. file — a document
  13. track — a song
  14. spell — magic
  15. pop — to visit
  16. clip — to cut
  17. stock — shares
  18. field — a subject
  19. track — to keep track
  20. spell — letters
  21. game — wild animals
  22. clip — a video
  23. stock — a soup base
  24. track — a path

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