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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: row · file · field · charge · hand · clip · bulb · chest

  1. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  2. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. The tickets are free of ________________.
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. I've got to change the light ________________.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. The light ________________ burned out.
  21. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  22. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  23. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  24. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a tool
  2. charge — electricity
  3. field — a subject
  4. chest — of your body
  5. hand — help
  6. clip — a video
  7. charge — a price
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. bulb — for light
  10. chest — a box
  11. row — to paddle
  12. hand — in cards
  13. clip — for paper
  14. file — a document
  15. file — a line of people
  16. row — a line
  17. field — for sport
  18. charge — in control
  19. clip — to cut
  20. bulb — for light
  21. hand — part of the body
  22. chest — of your body
  23. field — farmland
  24. bulb — of a plant

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