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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. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  2. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  5. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  10. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  11. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  21. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  22. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. The ________________ went through the wall.

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

Answer key

  1. bore — gave birth
  2. pound — a weight
  3. cold — not warm
  4. nail — on a finger
  5. chip — to eat
  6. field — for sport
  7. branch — of a tree
  8. field — farmland
  9. nail — for a hammer
  10. bore — to tire
  11. pound — for dogs
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. branch — of a bank
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. branch — a division
  16. bat — the animal
  17. cold — an illness
  18. chip — in a computer
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. pound — to hit hard
  21. chip — for betting
  22. bore — to drill
  23. field — a subject
  24. nail — for a hammer

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