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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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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. He is an ace ________________.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. Have you settled on a ________________?
  7. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  10. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  11. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  12. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  13. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  14. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  15. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. David sat on the ________________.
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. pound — for dogs
  3. field — for sport
  4. pitcher — in baseball
  5. field — a subject
  6. date — on the calendar
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. date — the fruit
  10. swing — music
  11. swing — in golf
  12. pound — a weight
  13. pound — to hit hard
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. date — on the calendar
  16. field — farmland
  17. swing — to play on
  18. kid — to tease

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