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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: date · drill · leaves · field · chair · bank · cell · clip

  1. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  8. Have you settled on a ________________?
  9. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  10. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  11. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  12. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  13. He was locked up in a ________________.
  14. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  15. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  18. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  21. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  22. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  23. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  24. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. leaves — of a tree
  3. cell — a phone
  4. field — a subject
  5. field — farmland
  6. clip — to cut
  7. leaves — to go away
  8. date — on the calendar
  9. bank — of a river
  10. chair — to sit on
  11. date — the fruit
  12. bank — for money
  13. cell — in a prison
  14. leaves — lets stay
  15. cell — in biology
  16. field — for sport
  17. chair — a professorship
  18. drill — the tool
  19. clip — a video
  20. drill — army training
  21. chair — a leader
  22. date — on the calendar
  23. drill — a practice
  24. bank — for money

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