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

Word bank: bank · bat · field · file · last · craft

  1. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  6. False peace will not ________________.
  7. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  8. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  9. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. craft — boats
  2. last — final
  3. bank — for money
  4. bat — the animal
  5. file — a line of people
  6. last — to go on
  7. craft — a skill
  8. bank — for money
  9. last — finally
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. craft — a handicraft
  12. field — farmland
  13. file — a tool
  14. bank — of a river
  15. file — a document
  16. field — a subject
  17. field — for sport
  18. bat — for baseball

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