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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. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  2. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  3. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  9. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. We're on a ________________ here.
  13. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  16. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  17. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  21. That must've been a ________________.
  22. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — hurry
  2. rush — to hurry
  3. pound — for dogs
  4. clip — for paper
  5. field — for sport
  6. current — happening now
  7. field — a subject
  8. current — of water
  9. pound — a weight
  10. kid — to tease
  11. clip — a video
  12. roll — on a roll
  13. lash — a whip stroke
  14. clip — to cut
  15. roll — a cake
  16. pound — to hit hard
  17. roll — a list
  18. field — farmland
  19. kid — child
  20. lash — to lash out
  21. rush — a thrill
  22. lash — an eyelash
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. current — electric

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