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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: field · bark · roll · file · tube · cold · band · date

  1. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  5. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  6. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  7. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  8. We're on a ________________ here.
  9. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  10. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  11. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  12. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  13. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  17. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  18. Have you settled on a ________________?
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. I'll be taking the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — a container
  2. field — for sport
  3. field — a subject
  4. file — a document
  5. band — a rubber band
  6. file — a line of people
  7. bark — to shout
  8. roll — on a roll
  9. tube — in a tire
  10. band — a music group
  11. bark — of a tree
  12. date — the fruit
  13. roll — a list
  14. file — a tool
  15. field — farmland
  16. bark — a dog's sound
  17. band — a ring
  18. date — on the calendar
  19. cold — an illness
  20. date — on the calendar
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. roll — a cake
  23. cold — not warm
  24. tube — the underground

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