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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: bowl · tube · clip · hand · plane · field · track · wind

  1. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  2. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  3. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  4. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  13. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  14. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  15. I'll be taking the ________________.
  16. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. The ________________ took off on time.
  22. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  23. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  24. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. plane — a tool
  2. hand — part of the body
  3. bowl — a football final
  4. track — a song
  5. clip — for paper
  6. wind — moving air
  7. clip — a video
  8. clip — to cut
  9. tube — a container
  10. field — a subject
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. track — a path
  13. track — to keep track
  14. wind — moving air
  15. tube — the underground
  16. hand — help
  17. hand — in cards
  18. field — for sport
  19. plane — in geometry
  20. field — farmland
  21. plane — an aircraft
  22. bowl — to roll
  23. tube — in a tire
  24. bowl — a dish

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