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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. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  8. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  9. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  10. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  11. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  12. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  13. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  14. Have you settled on a ________________?
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  21. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  22. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  23. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. wake — before a funeral
  2. chest — of your body
  3. current — electric
  4. chest — of your body
  5. clip — to cut
  6. field — for sport
  7. trunk — of a car
  8. trunk — of a tree
  9. craft — a handicraft
  10. current — happening now
  11. trunk — of an elephant
  12. current — of water
  13. date — on the calendar
  14. date — on the calendar
  15. clip — for paper
  16. chest — a box
  17. wake — a trail
  18. field — a subject
  19. field — farmland
  20. craft — a skill
  21. wake — to stop sleeping
  22. date — the fruit
  23. craft — boats
  24. clip — a video

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