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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. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  6. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  10. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  11. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  12. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  13. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  14. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  15. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  16. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  17. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  22. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  23. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  24. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. pound — for dogs
  4. capital — money
  5. race — humankind
  6. race — the arms race
  7. field — a subject
  8. mine — for digging
  9. pound — to hit hard
  10. row — a quarrel
  11. foot — part of the body
  12. chair — to sit on
  13. foot — a measure
  14. pound — a weight
  15. chair — a professorship
  16. chair — a leader
  17. race — a contest
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. row — a line
  20. capital — a city
  21. row — to paddle
  22. foot — the bottom
  23. mine — belonging to me
  24. field — farmland

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