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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. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  2. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. We're almost out of ________________.
  5. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  6. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. He was locked up in a ________________.
  14. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. You don't need to ________________ round.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  23. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  24. We were using a ________________ as a seat.

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

Answer key

  1. pound — to hit hard
  2. capital — money
  3. field — farmland
  4. pop — soda
  5. rock — music
  6. pound — for dogs
  7. hand — in cards
  8. kid — to tease
  9. kid — child
  10. hand — help
  11. cell — in biology
  12. cell — a phone
  13. cell — in a prison
  14. pop — music
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. pop — to visit
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. pound — a weight
  19. field — a subject
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. field — for sport
  22. rock — to move gently
  23. capital — a city
  24. rock — a stone

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