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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. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  2. He was locked up in a ________________.
  3. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  4. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  5. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. The ________________ market has crashed.
  17. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  18. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  19. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  20. That was a fun ________________.
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — to turn a key
  2. cell — in a prison
  3. track — to keep track
  4. cell — in biology
  5. mine — an explosive
  6. field — for sport
  7. stock — a soup base
  8. field — a subject
  9. cell — a phone
  10. wind — moving air
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. wind — moving air
  13. file — a line of people
  14. stock — goods
  15. field — farmland
  16. stock — shares
  17. track — a path
  18. mine — for digging
  19. game — wild animals
  20. game — a match
  21. file — a tool
  22. mine — belonging to me
  23. file — a document
  24. track — a song

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