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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: bat · march · current · wind · mine · snap · prune · field

  1. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  3. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  8. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  11. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  12. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  23. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  24. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. current — of water
  3. prune — to trim
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. current — happening now
  6. field — farmland
  7. prune — the fruit
  8. snap — to speak sharply
  9. field — a subject
  10. march — the month
  11. current — electric
  12. snap — to snap out of it
  13. wind — moving air
  14. march — music
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. prune — to trim
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. mine — for digging
  20. bat — the animal
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. snap — to click
  23. wind — moving air
  24. march — the month

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