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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: mine · foot · fork · track · racket · clip · pitcher · chest

  1. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  4. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  5. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  12. He is an ace ________________.
  13. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  14. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  17. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  18. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  19. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  22. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  23. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  24. He was blown up by a land ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. track — to keep track
  2. chest — of your body
  3. racket — for tennis
  4. foot — part of the body
  5. track — a song
  6. chest — of your body
  7. clip — for paper
  8. track — a path
  9. mine — for digging
  10. clip — a video
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. pitcher — in baseball
  13. racket — a loud noise
  14. racket — for tennis
  15. clip — to cut
  16. mine — belonging to me
  17. foot — the bottom
  18. fork — a garden tool
  19. fork — in a road
  20. chest — a box
  21. pitcher — a jug
  22. foot — a measure
  23. fork — to eat with
  24. mine — an explosive

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