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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 120 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: chip · field · track · stem · branch · capital · spell · cold

  1. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  2. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  3. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  6. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  7. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  18. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  19. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. How do you ________________ your surname?
  22. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. track — a song
  2. chip — for betting
  3. track — to keep track
  4. field — a subject
  5. chip — to eat
  6. spell — a short time
  7. stem — to come from
  8. cold — an illness
  9. stem — a stem cell
  10. field — for sport
  11. spell — magic
  12. capital — money
  13. capital — a city
  14. field — farmland
  15. branch — a division
  16. cold — not warm
  17. chip — in a computer
  18. branch — of a tree
  19. track — a path
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. spell — letters
  22. branch — of a bank
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. stem — of a plant

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