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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. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  2. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  3. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  4. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  5. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  8. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  9. Did you ________________ the meat?
  10. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  11. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  12. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  13. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  18. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  19. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  20. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a line of people
  2. file — a document
  3. season — in sport
  4. mark — a trace
  5. wax — in the ear
  6. chest — of your body
  7. season — of the year
  8. wax — to grow
  9. season — to add flavour
  10. wax — for sculpting
  11. mark — to pay attention
  12. straw — dry grass
  13. mark — a grade
  14. chest — a box
  15. root — the cause
  16. field — farmland
  17. root — of a word
  18. root — of a plant
  19. chest — of your body
  20. straw — to clutch at straws
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. field — a subject
  23. field — for sport
  24. file — a tool

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