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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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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 · stem · wind · racket · tear · file · pass · march

  1. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  3. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  4. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  5. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  6. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  7. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  8. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  9. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  10. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  13. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  14. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  15. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  18. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  19. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  22. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  23. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  24. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. wind — to turn a key
  3. pass — a permit
  4. march — the month
  5. wind — moving air
  6. racket — for tennis
  7. file — a document
  8. file — a line of people
  9. tear — from crying
  10. march — the month
  11. field — a subject
  12. racket — for tennis
  13. stem — a stem cell
  14. march — music
  15. stem — to come from
  16. file — a tool
  17. stem — of a plant
  18. tear — from crying
  19. racket — a loud noise
  20. field — for sport
  21. wind — moving air
  22. pass — to succeed
  23. tear — to rip
  24. pass — to spend time

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