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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. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  8. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  11. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  12. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  13. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  16. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  17. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  19. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  20. Did you ________________ the meat?
  21. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  22. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  23. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. track — a song
  2. clip — a video
  3. stem — of a plant
  4. field — farmland
  5. field — a subject
  6. clip — to cut
  7. track — a path
  8. branch — of a tree
  9. clip — for paper
  10. racket — a loud noise
  11. shower — to wash
  12. branch — a division
  13. track — to keep track
  14. field — for sport
  15. season — in sport
  16. stem — to come from
  17. branch — of a bank
  18. shower — rain
  19. season — of the year
  20. season — to add flavour
  21. racket — for tennis
  22. stem — a stem cell
  23. racket — for tennis
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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