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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: field · chest · current · bound · pitcher · file · wind · deal

  1. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  3. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  4. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  5. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  6. That was ________________ to happen.
  7. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  8. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  9. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  15. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  16. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  17. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  18. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  19. He is an ace ________________.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  23. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  24. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. current — of water
  4. bound — obliged
  5. file — a document
  6. bound — certain
  7. deal — to handle
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. file — a line of people
  10. field — a subject
  11. wind — moving air
  12. chest — of your body
  13. file — a tool
  14. wind — to turn a key
  15. wind — moving air
  16. current — electric
  17. current — happening now
  18. deal — a big deal
  19. pitcher — in baseball
  20. field — for sport
  21. chest — a box
  22. deal — an agreement
  23. chest — of your body
  24. bound — tied together

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