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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: straw · file · field · land · pit · mine · track · kick

  1. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  4. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  5. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  12. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  13. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  14. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  15. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  16. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  17. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  18. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  21. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  22. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. field — for sport
  3. mine — belonging to me
  4. track — a song
  5. straw — a straw man
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. file — a document
  8. mine — for digging
  9. file — a tool
  10. field — farmland
  11. pit — a hole
  12. straw — dry grass
  13. land — a country
  14. kick — with a leg
  15. kick — in football
  16. kick — a thrill
  17. track — a path
  18. pit — in a race
  19. land — to come down
  20. pit — a fruit stone
  21. straw — to clutch at straws
  22. track — to keep track
  23. file — a line of people
  24. field — a subject

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