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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 120 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. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  2. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  3. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  4. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  5. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. Did you ________________ the meat?
  9. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  10. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  11. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  12. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  13. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  14. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  17. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  20. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. How do you ________________ your surname?
  23. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. march — the month
  3. season — in sport
  4. straw — a straw man
  5. march — music
  6. field — farmland
  7. field — a subject
  8. season — to add flavour
  9. trunk — of a car
  10. file — a document
  11. spell — a short time
  12. trunk — of an elephant
  13. season — of the year
  14. pass — to succeed
  15. field — for sport
  16. pass — to spend time
  17. spell — magic
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. pass — a permit
  20. straw — to clutch at straws
  21. file — a tool
  22. spell — letters
  23. trunk — of a tree
  24. file — a line of people

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