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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 116 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: snap · bear · rash · straw · field · pound

  1. Don't do anything ________________.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  4. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  5. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  6. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  7. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  8. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  9. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  10. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  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. rash — hasty
  2. field — farmland
  3. bear — the animal
  4. pound — to hit hard
  5. pound — a weight
  6. snap — to click
  7. straw — a straw man
  8. bear — to put up with
  9. snap — to speak sharply
  10. rash — on the skin
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. snap — to snap out of it
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. rash — a series
  15. field — a subject
  16. field — for sport
  17. bear — the animal
  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