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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. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  2. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  3. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  6. The ________________ went through the wall.
  7. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  8. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  9. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  10. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  15. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  20. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  21. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  22. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  23. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. board — a committee
  2. race — a contest
  3. pound — to hit hard
  4. field — farmland
  5. spring — of water
  6. nail — for a hammer
  7. pound — a weight
  8. board — a flat piece
  9. perch — for a bird
  10. spring — the season
  11. spring — a coil
  12. kid — child
  13. kid — to tease
  14. pound — for dogs
  15. perch — for a bird
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. perch — the fish
  18. field — a subject
  19. board — to get on
  20. nail — for a hammer
  21. nail — on a finger
  22. race — the arms race
  23. race — humankind
  24. field — for sport

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