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

Word bank: pound · tear · hide · capital · straw · field

  1. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  2. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  3. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  4. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  5. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  6. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  17. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  18. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. hide — to keep secret
  3. pound — to hit hard
  4. pound — a weight
  5. pound — for dogs
  6. hide — to keep secret
  7. field — a subject
  8. tear — to rip
  9. tear — from crying
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. field — farmland
  13. field — for sport
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. capital — a city
  16. straw — a straw man
  17. hide — animal skin
  18. tear — from crying

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