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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: cell · stem · field · pound · mouse · wake

  1. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  2. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  3. He was locked up in a ________________.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  6. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  7. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  8. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  9. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  10. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  11. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  12. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  13. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  18. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.

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

Answer key

  1. mouse — the animal
  2. pound — for dogs
  3. cell — in a prison
  4. field — for sport
  5. pound — a weight
  6. mouse — the animal
  7. wake — a trail
  8. cell — a phone
  9. wake — to stop sleeping
  10. pound — to hit hard
  11. stem — to come from
  12. wake — before a funeral
  13. mouse — for a computer
  14. field — farmland
  15. cell — in biology
  16. field — a subject
  17. stem — of a plant
  18. stem — a stem cell

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