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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. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  5. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  6. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  7. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  8. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  9. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  12. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  13. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  14. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  17. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  18. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  19. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  23. Don't do anything ________________.
  24. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. hand — in cards
  3. field — for sport
  4. branch — of a bank
  5. rash — a series
  6. track — a song
  7. club — a group
  8. branch — a division
  9. branch — of a tree
  10. field — a subject
  11. rash — on the skin
  12. track — to keep track
  13. club — for golf
  14. hand — help
  15. file — a line of people
  16. chair — to sit on
  17. chair — a leader
  18. club — for dancing
  19. file — a tool
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. file — a document
  22. track — a path
  23. rash — hasty
  24. chair — a professorship

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