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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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: march · club · clip · stem · press · field

  1. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  3. Did you ________________ the button?
  4. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  5. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  6. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  9. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  10. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  16. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  17. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. march — music
  3. press — to push
  4. stem — to come from
  5. club — a group
  6. march — the month
  7. clip — a video
  8. press — newspapers
  9. club — for dancing
  10. march — the month
  11. field — farmland
  12. stem — of a plant
  13. field — for sport
  14. field — a subject
  15. stem — a stem cell
  16. press — a publisher
  17. club — for golf
  18. clip — to cut

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