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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: mine · trunk · mark · file · game · field · clip · firm

  1. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  2. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. That was a fun ________________.
  5. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  6. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  7. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  8. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  9. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  10. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  13. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  16. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  17. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  24. She's sitting on a gold ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mark — to pay attention
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. field — for sport
  4. game — a match
  5. firm — decided
  6. mark — a grade
  7. trunk — of an elephant
  8. firm — a company
  9. mine — belonging to me
  10. trunk — of a tree
  11. clip — for paper
  12. mine — an explosive
  13. trunk — of a car
  14. clip — a video
  15. game — wild animals
  16. firm — steady
  17. file — a line of people
  18. clip — to cut
  19. field — a subject
  20. field — farmland
  21. mark — a trace
  22. file — a document
  23. file — a tool
  24. mine — for digging

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