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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 · perch · mate · clip · lash · field · band · stem

  1. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  5. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  8. Have you found your soul ________________?
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  13. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  17. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  20. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  21. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  22. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. stem — of a plant
  3. field — for sport
  4. mate — a friend
  5. lash — an eyelash
  6. field — farmland
  7. perch — the fish
  8. mate — a partner
  9. clip — to cut
  10. lash — a whip stroke
  11. clip — a video
  12. lash — to lash out
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. file — a tool
  15. field — a subject
  16. stem — a stem cell
  17. file — a line of people
  18. clip — for paper
  19. stem — to come from
  20. band — a rubber band
  21. band — a music group
  22. mate — to breed
  23. file — a document
  24. perch — for a bird

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