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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. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  2. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  3. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  6. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  7. He is an ace ________________.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  10. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  11. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  12. He was locked up in a ________________.
  13. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  17. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  22. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  23. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  24. He keeps ________________ of his days.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. pit — in a race
  3. track — a path
  4. clip — to cut
  5. wake — before a funeral
  6. wake — a trail
  7. pitcher — in baseball
  8. clip — a video
  9. pit — a hole
  10. track — a song
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. cell — in a prison
  13. can — a tin
  14. field — farmland
  15. field — a subject
  16. pit — a fruit stone
  17. wake — to stop sleeping
  18. clip — for paper
  19. cell — a phone
  20. field — for sport
  21. cell — in biology
  22. can — to be able to
  23. can — a tin
  24. track — to keep track

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