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

Word bank: tear · race · stick · field · file · fork · track · wound

  1. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  2. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  6. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  7. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  8. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  9. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  10. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  15. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  16. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  17. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  18. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  19. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  20. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  21. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. tear — to rip
  3. field — for sport
  4. field — a subject
  5. fork — a garden tool
  6. track — a song
  7. stick — a piece of wood
  8. wound — past of 'wind'
  9. stick — a piece of wood
  10. fork — to eat with
  11. file — a tool
  12. race — humankind
  13. field — farmland
  14. wound — an injury
  15. race — a contest
  16. track — to keep track
  17. track — a path
  18. tear — from crying
  19. fork — in a road
  20. stick — to attach or keep to
  21. race — the arms race
  22. file — a document
  23. wound — an injury
  24. file — a line of people

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