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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. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  3. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  4. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  8. He is an ace ________________.
  9. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. The King held a masked ________________.
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  16. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. The ________________ took off on time.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  22. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  23. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  24. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. march — music
  3. march — the month
  4. ball — a round shape
  5. shower — to wash
  6. clip — for paper
  7. plane — a tool
  8. pitcher — in baseball
  9. bore — to tire
  10. clip — to cut
  11. clip — a video
  12. ball — a dance
  13. march — the month
  14. field — a subject
  15. pitcher — a jug
  16. bore — gave birth
  17. field — for sport
  18. plane — an aircraft
  19. shower — rain
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. bore — to drill
  22. pitcher — a jug
  23. ball — a great time
  24. plane — in geometry

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