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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: wound · file · chair · bay · swing · tube · field · net

  1. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  2. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  3. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  4. David sat on the ________________.
  5. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  6. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  7. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  8. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  11. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. I'll be taking the ________________.
  15. My mare is ________________ in color.
  16. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  17. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  22. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  23. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  24. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — past of 'wind'
  2. file — a tool
  3. chair — a leader
  4. swing — to play on
  5. chair — a professorship
  6. net — after costs
  7. file — a line of people
  8. tube — a container
  9. field — a subject
  10. net — in sport
  11. bay — to keep at bay
  12. field — for sport
  13. file — a document
  14. tube — the underground
  15. bay — a horse colour
  16. chair — to sit on
  17. net — for catching
  18. wound — an injury
  19. swing — in golf
  20. field — farmland
  21. wound — an injury
  22. bay — a part of the sea
  23. swing — music
  24. tube — in a tire

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