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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: land · clip · track · fork · field · wind · spring · current

  1. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  6. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  17. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  18. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  21. When are we going to ________________?
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  24. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. spring — the season
  3. clip — to cut
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. current — electric
  6. track — to keep track
  7. spring — a coil
  8. track — a song
  9. field — for sport
  10. wind — moving air
  11. spring — of water
  12. land — ground
  13. field — a subject
  14. fork — a garden tool
  15. land — a country
  16. current — happening now
  17. track — a path
  18. current — of water
  19. clip — a video
  20. wind — moving air
  21. land — to come down
  22. field — farmland
  23. fork — in a road
  24. fork — to eat with

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