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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  3. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  4. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. What do you think of the new ________________?
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. The ball is in your ________________.
  13. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  14. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  20. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. How do you ________________ your surname?
  24. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. cabinet — a cupboard
  3. spell — a short time
  4. pound — a weight
  5. field — for sport
  6. land — to come down
  7. kid — to tease
  8. field — a subject
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. cabinet — ministers
  11. clip — a video
  12. court — for sport
  13. court — of law
  14. cabinet — ministers
  15. clip — to cut
  16. kid — child
  17. pound — for dogs
  18. court — of a king
  19. spell — magic
  20. land — ground
  21. field — farmland
  22. land — a country
  23. spell — letters
  24. pound — to hit hard

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