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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: roll · spring · field · stock · season · clip · mark · band

  1. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  4. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  5. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. The ________________ market has crashed.
  10. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. Did you ________________ the meat?
  15. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  18. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  19. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  20. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. We're on a ________________ here.
  23. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. season — in sport
  2. field — a subject
  3. mark — a grade
  4. mark — to pay attention
  5. season — of the year
  6. clip — to cut
  7. spring — of water
  8. field — farmland
  9. stock — shares
  10. mark — a trace
  11. field — for sport
  12. roll — a cake
  13. spring — the season
  14. season — to add flavour
  15. band — a music group
  16. clip — for paper
  17. band — a rubber band
  18. stock — goods
  19. roll — a list
  20. stock — a soup base
  21. clip — a video
  22. roll — on a roll
  23. band — a ring
  24. spring — a coil

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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