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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: rest · mine · sharp · field · track · file · wake · drill

  1. It's one o'clock ________________.
  2. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  3. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  4. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  5. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  8. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  9. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  10. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  13. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  16. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  17. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  18. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  22. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — exactly
  2. drill — the tool
  3. rest — a break
  4. sharp — with an edge
  5. mine — an explosive
  6. field — a subject
  7. wake — a trail
  8. sharp — clever
  9. drill — army training
  10. wake — before a funeral
  11. file — a tool
  12. rest — what's left
  13. mine — belonging to me
  14. mine — for digging
  15. track — a path
  16. wake — to stop sleeping
  17. track — to keep track
  18. drill — a practice
  19. field — farmland
  20. file — a document
  21. rest — what's left
  22. track — a song
  23. file — a line of people
  24. field — for sport

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