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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. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  2. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  3. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  4. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  7. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  8. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  9. Did you ________________ the meat?
  10. How do you ________________ your surname?
  11. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  12. I'll be taking the ________________.
  13. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  16. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  17. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  18. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  21. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pound — a weight
  2. season — in sport
  3. spell — magic
  4. tube — a container
  5. field — farmland
  6. patient — a sick person
  7. patient — a sick person
  8. rock — music
  9. season — to add flavour
  10. spell — letters
  11. patient — calm and waiting
  12. tube — the underground
  13. pound — to hit hard
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. spell — a short time
  16. tube — in a tire
  17. rock — to move gently
  18. rock — a stone
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. season — of the year
  21. pound — for dogs
  22. field — a subject
  23. bat — the animal
  24. field — for sport

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