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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: field · race · track · shower · march · ball · chip · cell

  1. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  3. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  4. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  5. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  6. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  7. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  8. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  9. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  10. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  11. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  12. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  13. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  14. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  15. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  20. The King held a masked ________________.
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. march — music
  3. march — the month
  4. track — a path
  5. ball — a round shape
  6. race — the arms race
  7. track — a song
  8. cell — a phone
  9. race — humankind
  10. shower — rain
  11. chip — in a computer
  12. ball — a great time
  13. track — to keep track
  14. cell — in biology
  15. chip — for betting
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. cell — in a prison
  18. field — a subject
  19. march — the month
  20. ball — a dance
  21. field — farmland
  22. race — a contest
  23. field — for sport
  24. chip — to eat

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