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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: current · bat · chest · pit · march · field · stock · clip

  1. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  12. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  13. The ________________ market has crashed.
  14. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  15. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  16. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  20. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  24. Let us try to swim against the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. chest — of your body
  3. bat — the animal
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. march — the month
  6. field — for sport
  7. pit — a hole
  8. chest — of your body
  9. field — a subject
  10. clip — for paper
  11. stock — a soup base
  12. march — music
  13. stock — shares
  14. pit — in a race
  15. current — electric
  16. pit — a fruit stone
  17. field — farmland
  18. clip — a video
  19. current — happening now
  20. stock — goods
  21. chest — a box
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. march — the month
  24. current — of water

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