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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 116 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: kick · swing · chip · rock · mine · field · row · file

  1. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  2. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  3. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  6. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  7. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  12. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  13. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  16. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  21. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  22. David sat on the ________________.
  23. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  24. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — in football
  2. rock — to move gently
  3. rock — a stone
  4. mine — for digging
  5. kick — a thrill
  6. kick — with a leg
  7. swing — in golf
  8. field — a subject
  9. row — a line
  10. file — a line of people
  11. row — to paddle
  12. rock — music
  13. row — a quarrel
  14. field — for sport
  15. chip — for betting
  16. swing — music
  17. file — a document
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. field — farmland
  20. chip — in a computer
  21. chip — to eat
  22. swing — to play on
  23. file — a tool
  24. mine — belonging to me

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