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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 116 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. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  2. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  6. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  7. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  8. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  9. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  12. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  15. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  16. When are we going to ________________?
  17. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  18. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  19. How do you ________________ your surname?
  20. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  21. False peace will not ________________.
  22. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  23. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  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. straw — dry grass
  2. race — the arms race
  3. land — a country
  4. land — ground
  5. pound — a weight
  6. last — final
  7. pound — for dogs
  8. straw — to clutch at straws
  9. straw — a straw man
  10. field — for sport
  11. band — a ring
  12. race — a contest
  13. field — farmland
  14. spell — magic
  15. band — a music group
  16. land — to come down
  17. spell — a short time
  18. pound — to hit hard
  19. spell — letters
  20. race — humankind
  21. last — to go on
  22. last — finally
  23. band — a rubber band
  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