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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: wake · bulb · drill · field · march · file · plane · bound

  1. I've got to change the light ________________.
  2. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  3. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  4. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  5. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. The light ________________ burned out.
  12. The ________________ took off on time.
  13. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  14. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. That was ________________ to happen.
  17. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  18. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  19. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  20. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  21. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  22. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  23. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. bulb — for light
  2. wake — before a funeral
  3. plane — a tool
  4. march — the month
  5. bound — tied together
  6. field — a subject
  7. drill — army training
  8. field — for sport
  9. field — farmland
  10. file — a tool
  11. bulb — for light
  12. plane — an aircraft
  13. wake — a trail
  14. drill — the tool
  15. file — a line of people
  16. bound — certain
  17. bound — obliged
  18. march — music
  19. bulb — of a plant
  20. wake — to stop sleeping
  21. drill — a practice
  22. plane — in geometry
  23. march — the month
  24. file — a document

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