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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: saw · field · pop · straw · file · chair · branch · game

  1. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. That was a fun ________________.
  5. He works in a ________________ mill.
  6. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  7. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  8. We're almost out of ________________.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  15. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  18. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  19. You don't need to ________________ round.
  20. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  21. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  22. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. She's very handy with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — wild animals
  2. field — for sport
  3. field — farmland
  4. game — a match
  5. saw — the tool
  6. branch — a division
  7. chair — a professorship
  8. pop — soda
  9. field — a subject
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. straw — dry grass
  13. file — a tool
  14. pop — music
  15. straw — a straw man
  16. file — a line of people
  17. chair — to sit on
  18. branch — of a tree
  19. pop — to visit
  20. branch — of a bank
  21. saw — past of 'see'
  22. chair — a leader
  23. file — a document
  24. saw — the tool

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