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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  3. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  4. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  5. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  6. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  7. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  8. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  11. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  12. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  13. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  14. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  15. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  16. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  17. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  20. The King held a masked ________________.
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  23. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. pitch — a sports field
  3. lie — an untruth
  4. mine — an explosive
  5. march — the month
  6. pound — for dogs
  7. march — music
  8. ball — a round shape
  9. field — for sport
  10. lie — to recline
  11. mine — for digging
  12. pitch — a sales talk
  13. pitch — completely
  14. march — the month
  15. ball — a great time
  16. pound — a weight
  17. pound — to hit hard
  18. field — a subject
  19. mine — belonging to me
  20. ball — a dance
  21. field — farmland
  22. kid — child
  23. lie — an untruth
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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