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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. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  2. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  3. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  6. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  7. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  8. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  11. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  12. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  13. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  17. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  18. This piece is in a major ________________.
  19. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  20. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  21. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  24. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pound — a weight
  2. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  3. chair — to sit on
  4. field — a subject
  5. key — for a lock
  6. kid — to tease
  7. file — a document
  8. kid — child
  9. field — for sport
  10. pound — to hit hard
  11. pound — for dogs
  12. row — a line
  13. chair — a leader
  14. file — a tool
  15. file — a line of people
  16. key — the most important part
  17. chair — a professorship
  18. key — in music
  19. row — a quarrel
  20. straw — dry grass
  21. straw — to clutch at straws
  22. row — to paddle
  23. straw — a straw man
  24. field — farmland

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