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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 · clip · stand · spring · can · track · lie · capital

  1. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  2. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  3. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  4. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  8. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  9. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. I can't ________________ this cold.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  20. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. can — to be able to
  2. lie — to recline
  3. lie — an untruth
  4. can — a tin
  5. spring — the season
  6. field — for sport
  7. track — to keep track
  8. track — a song
  9. stand — on your feet
  10. clip — a video
  11. lie — an untruth
  12. field — a subject
  13. stand — to bear
  14. capital — money
  15. clip — to cut
  16. spring — of water
  17. field — farmland
  18. capital — a city
  19. can — a tin
  20. track — a path
  21. clip — for paper
  22. stand — for spectators
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. spring — a coil

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