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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: pound · firm · race · straw · field · clip

  1. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  8. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  9. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  10. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  11. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  12. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  15. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  18. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. pound — to hit hard
  3. clip — to cut
  4. straw — dry grass
  5. clip — for paper
  6. field — a subject
  7. firm — a company
  8. straw — to clutch at straws
  9. race — humankind
  10. race — the arms race
  11. straw — a straw man
  12. firm — decided
  13. field — for sport
  14. pound — for dogs
  15. pound — a weight
  16. clip — a video
  17. firm — steady
  18. race — a contest

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