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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: pit · race · clip · pitcher · cold · field · swing · track

  1. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  3. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  4. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  7. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  10. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  13. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  16. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  17. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  18. He is an ace ________________.
  19. David sat on the ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. race — humankind
  3. swing — music
  4. track — a path
  5. cold — an illness
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. pit — a hole
  8. field — a subject
  9. track — to keep track
  10. race — the arms race
  11. clip — a video
  12. pit — a fruit stone
  13. pit — in a race
  14. cold — not warm
  15. track — a song
  16. swing — in golf
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. pitcher — in baseball
  19. swing — to play on
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. race — a contest
  22. field — for sport
  23. clip — to cut
  24. field — farmland

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