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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 120 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 would like to have a ________________ here.
  2. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  3. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  6. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  7. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  23. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  24. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. rest — a break
  2. rest — what's left
  3. pound — a weight
  4. field — for sport
  5. rest — what's left
  6. pound — to hit hard
  7. mine — an explosive
  8. mine — for digging
  9. straw — a straw man
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. land — ground
  12. field — farmland
  13. wave — a sudden rise
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. field — a subject
  17. land — to come down
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. bat — the animal
  20. wave — with your hand
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. pound — for dogs
  23. wave — of the sea
  24. land — a country

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