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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: wake · capital · race · mark · clip · field · jam · file

  1. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  8. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  9. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  10. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  13. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  14. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  15. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  16. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  20. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. field — farmland
  3. wake — to stop sleeping
  4. field — for sport
  5. race — a contest
  6. capital — a city
  7. mark — a grade
  8. mark — a trace
  9. jam — to spread on bread
  10. wake — a trail
  11. clip — to cut
  12. mark — to pay attention
  13. race — humankind
  14. race — the arms race
  15. wake — before a funeral
  16. jam — in traffic
  17. clip — for paper
  18. file — a document
  19. file — a tool
  20. jam — a tight spot
  21. field — a subject
  22. file — a line of people
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. clip — a video

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