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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 stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  7. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  8. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  9. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  10. We're almost out of ________________.
  11. Have you found your soul ________________?
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  16. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  20. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  21. You don't need to ________________ round.
  22. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. current — happening now
  3. clip — to cut
  4. leaves — lets stay
  5. clip — a video
  6. mate — to breed
  7. pop — music
  8. current — of water
  9. leaves — of a tree
  10. pop — soda
  11. mate — a partner
  12. clip — for paper
  13. current — electric
  14. field — farmland
  15. trunk — of an elephant
  16. mate — a friend
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. field — a subject
  19. trunk — of a tree
  20. leaves — to go away
  21. pop — to visit
  22. trunk — of a car
  23. cold — not warm
  24. cold — an illness

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