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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: arm · pitcher · bark · file · fan · swing · march · field

  1. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  2. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  3. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  4. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  5. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. My father caught me by the ________________.
  9. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  13. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. He is an ace ________________.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  18. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  19. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  20. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  21. David sat on the ________________.
  22. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  23. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  24. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. march — music
  3. fan — a supporter
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. arm — part of the body
  6. field — farmland
  7. field — a subject
  8. arm — part of the body
  9. march — the month
  10. file — a tool
  11. field — for sport
  12. fan — to cool the air
  13. bark — to shout
  14. file — a line of people
  15. pitcher — in baseball
  16. file — a document
  17. bark — of a tree
  18. fan — a supporter
  19. arm — a part of something
  20. swing — in golf
  21. swing — to play on
  22. march — the month
  23. bark — a dog's sound
  24. swing — music

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