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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: wind · bass · race · pound · field · kid

  1. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  7. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  8. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  9. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.

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

Answer key

  1. pound — to hit hard
  2. field — farmland
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. race — a contest
  5. field — a subject
  6. kid — to tease
  7. pound — a weight
  8. race — the arms race
  9. race — humankind
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. bass — the instrument
  12. wind — moving air
  13. kid — child
  14. bass — the fish
  15. field — for sport
  16. bass — low music
  17. wind — moving air
  18. pound — for dogs

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