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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: march · cap · field · spring · ground · track · file · bat

  1. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  5. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  6. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  7. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  8. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. There's no middle ________________.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  22. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. cap — of ice
  3. field — for sport
  4. march — music
  5. file — a tool
  6. track — to keep track
  7. march — the month
  8. track — a path
  9. spring — the season
  10. cap — a hat
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. ground — crushed
  13. file — a line of people
  14. field — farmland
  15. ground — a position
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. track — a song
  18. field — a subject
  19. spring — of water
  20. spring — a coil
  21. march — the month
  22. cap — a lid
  23. file — a document
  24. ground — the earth

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