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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: field · face · band · row · clip · wax · current · march

  1. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  2. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  7. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  8. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  9. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  10. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  11. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  12. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  13. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  18. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  21. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  22. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  23. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  24. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a music group
  2. wax — for sculpting
  3. field — a subject
  4. face — to confront
  5. field — for sport
  6. march — the month
  7. wax — to grow
  8. current — of water
  9. row — to paddle
  10. current — happening now
  11. row — a line
  12. march — music
  13. face — to point toward
  14. clip — a video
  15. clip — to cut
  16. field — farmland
  17. row — a quarrel
  18. band — a ring
  19. clip — for paper
  20. band — a rubber band
  21. march — the month
  22. face — part of the head
  23. wax — in the ear
  24. current — electric

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