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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. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  2. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  6. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  9. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  10. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  11. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  12. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  13. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  16. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  17. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  18. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  21. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. She's sitting on a gold ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a document
  2. mine — an explosive
  3. march — the month
  4. degree — from a university
  5. file — a line of people
  6. cap — a hat
  7. field — for sport
  8. fan — to cool the air
  9. present — the time now
  10. fan — a supporter
  11. present — there
  12. cap — a lid
  13. fan — a supporter
  14. degree — an amount
  15. march — music
  16. present — a gift
  17. march — the month
  18. mine — belonging to me
  19. field — farmland
  20. file — a tool
  21. cap — of ice
  22. degree — temperature
  23. field — a subject
  24. mine — for digging

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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