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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: court · mine · cabinet · clip · club · field · face · file

  1. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  6. What do you think of the new ________________?
  7. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  10. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  11. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  12. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  18. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  19. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. The ball is in your ________________.
  22. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. mine — for digging
  3. court — of law
  4. clip — a video
  5. face — part of the head
  6. cabinet — ministers
  7. file — a line of people
  8. clip — for paper
  9. file — a document
  10. court — of a king
  11. club — for dancing
  12. club — a group
  13. field — farmland
  14. field — a subject
  15. club — for golf
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. cabinet — ministers
  18. face — to point toward
  19. cabinet — a cupboard
  20. clip — to cut
  21. court — for sport
  22. file — a tool
  23. field — for sport
  24. face — to confront

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