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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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: bark · race · pound · pass · field · kid

  1. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  2. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  7. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  12. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  13. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  16. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  17. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  18. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.

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

Answer key

  1. pass — to succeed
  2. bark — a dog's sound
  3. field — a subject
  4. pound — a weight
  5. kid — child
  6. pass — a permit
  7. bark — of a tree
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. field — for sport
  10. field — farmland
  11. race — a contest
  12. race — humankind
  13. race — the arms race
  14. kid — to tease
  15. pass — to spend time
  16. pound — for dogs
  17. bark — to shout
  18. pound — to hit hard

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