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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: hide · field · row · kid · race · bound

  1. That was ________________ to happen.
  2. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  3. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  4. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  7. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  8. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  9. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  10. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  11. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  12. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  17. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  18. 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. bound — certain
  2. row — a quarrel
  3. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  4. hide — to keep secret
  5. kid — child
  6. hide — to keep secret
  7. row — a line
  8. bound — obliged
  9. row — to paddle
  10. race — humankind
  11. kid — to tease
  12. hide — animal skin
  13. field — for sport
  14. bound — tied together
  15. field — farmland
  16. race — the arms race
  17. race — a contest
  18. 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