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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 124 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: vault · track · land · chest · field · bat · prune · last

  1. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  7. False peace will not ________________.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  12. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  20. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  21. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. track — to keep track
  2. field — farmland
  3. land — ground
  4. prune — to trim
  5. land — a country
  6. last — finally
  7. last — to go on
  8. land — to come down
  9. last — final
  10. chest — a box
  11. prune — the fruit
  12. track — a path
  13. chest — of your body
  14. vault — an arched ceiling
  15. field — for sport
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. prune — to trim
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. chest — of your body
  20. track — a song
  21. vault — in gymnastics
  22. field — a subject
  23. vault — a safe
  24. bat — the animal

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