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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. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  2. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. How do you ________________ your surname?
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  12. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  13. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  14. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  18. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  19. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  20. We're on a ________________ here.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  23. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  24. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.

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

Answer key

  1. track — a path
  2. spell — a short time
  3. field — farmland
  4. kid — to tease
  5. spell — letters
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. kid — child
  8. field — for sport
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. capital — a city
  11. firm — a company
  12. firm — steady
  13. roll — a cake
  14. track — to keep track
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. capital — money
  17. roll — a list
  18. spell — magic
  19. track — a song
  20. roll — on a roll
  21. field — a subject
  22. straw — a straw man
  23. straw — to clutch at straws
  24. firm — decided

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