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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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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: bear · march · rush · clip · ball · band · field · file

  1. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  3. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  4. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  5. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  6. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  7. That must've been a ________________.
  8. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  11. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  12. The King held a masked ________________.
  13. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  14. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  18. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  21. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  24. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. file — a tool
  3. march — the month
  4. file — a line of people
  5. band — a music group
  6. band — a rubber band
  7. rush — a thrill
  8. rush — to hurry
  9. clip — a video
  10. file — a document
  11. ball — a round shape
  12. ball — a dance
  13. rush — hurry
  14. band — a ring
  15. field — a subject
  16. clip — for paper
  17. march — the month
  18. march — music
  19. field — for sport
  20. bear — the animal
  21. bear — to put up with
  22. clip — to cut
  23. bear — the animal
  24. ball — a great time

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