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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. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  2. I'll be taking the ________________.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  7. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  8. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  9. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  13. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  14. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  15. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  16. David sat on the ________________.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  20. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  21. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  22. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  23. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  24. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. tube — the underground
  3. field — for sport
  4. land — a country
  5. field — a subject
  6. row — to paddle
  7. wind — moving air
  8. cap — a lid
  9. straw — a straw man
  10. field — farmland
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. swing — music
  13. swing — in golf
  14. cap — of ice
  15. cap — a hat
  16. swing — to play on
  17. land — to come down
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. tube — a container
  20. row — a quarrel
  21. straw — to clutch at straws
  22. land — ground
  23. tube — in a tire
  24. row — a line

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