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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: field · last · pound · stem · kick · row

  1. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  2. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  3. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  4. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  7. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  10. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  11. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  12. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  13. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  17. False peace will not ________________.
  18. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.

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

Answer key

  1. last — finally
  2. kick — a thrill
  3. stem — of a plant
  4. pound — for dogs
  5. field — farmland
  6. last — final
  7. pound — to hit hard
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. row — to paddle
  10. kick — with a leg
  11. row — a line
  12. stem — a stem cell
  13. stem — to come from
  14. field — a subject
  15. field — for sport
  16. pound — a weight
  17. last — to go on
  18. kick — in football

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