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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. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  3. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  4. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  5. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  6. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  7. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  8. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  9. There's no middle ________________.
  10. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  11. He was locked up in a ________________.
  12. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  17. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  18. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  19. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  20. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  21. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. pound — a weight
  3. chip — to eat
  4. pound — to hit hard
  5. cell — in biology
  6. ground — crushed
  7. straw — to clutch at straws
  8. straw — dry grass
  9. ground — a position
  10. hide — animal skin
  11. cell — in a prison
  12. hide — to keep secret
  13. cell — a phone
  14. file — a tool
  15. file — a document
  16. hide — to keep secret
  17. file — a line of people
  18. pound — for dogs
  19. chip — for betting
  20. chip — in a computer
  21. ground — the earth
  22. field — for sport
  23. straw — a straw man
  24. field — a subject

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