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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. She's very handy with a ________________.
  2. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  3. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  8. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  9. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  10. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. He works in a ________________ mill.
  16. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  21. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  22. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. saw — the tool
  2. face — to confront
  3. pound — for dogs
  4. field — farmland
  5. field — for sport
  6. land — to come down
  7. pound — to hit hard
  8. can — a tin
  9. can — a tin
  10. saw — past of 'see'
  11. land — ground
  12. shower — to wash
  13. kid — child
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. saw — the tool
  16. land — a country
  17. shower — rain
  18. face — part of the head
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. pound — a weight
  21. can — to be able to
  22. face — to point toward
  23. kid — to tease
  24. field — a subject

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