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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: bank · file · field · chest · band · pitcher · fork · rule

  1. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  3. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  4. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  5. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  10. He is an ace ________________.
  11. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  12. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  13. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  20. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  21. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  22. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  23. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  24. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. bank — for money
  3. fork — to eat with
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. band — a ring
  6. chest — of your body
  7. bank — for money
  8. field — farmland
  9. band — a rubber band
  10. pitcher — in baseball
  11. rule — to rule out
  12. fork — a garden tool
  13. rule — a law
  14. file — a line of people
  15. file — a tool
  16. field — for sport
  17. file — a document
  18. chest — a box
  19. band — a music group
  20. pitcher — a jug
  21. bank — of a river
  22. rule — government
  23. chest — of your body
  24. fork — in a road

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