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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: file · present · last · current · field · stick · clip · kid

  1. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  2. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. False peace will not ________________.
  5. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  6. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  7. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  10. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  11. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  18. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  19. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  20. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  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. file — a tool
  2. present — a gift
  3. clip — for paper
  4. last — to go on
  5. present — there
  6. last — finally
  7. file — a document
  8. field — a subject
  9. current — of water
  10. kid — child
  11. current — happening now
  12. clip — a video
  13. stick — a piece of wood
  14. kid — to tease
  15. clip — to cut
  16. field — farmland
  17. stick — to attach or keep to
  18. stick — a piece of wood
  19. present — the time now
  20. current — electric
  21. field — for sport
  22. last — final
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  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