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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 120 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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Word bank
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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: mine · saw · field · spell · band · pound

  1. How do you ________________ your surname?
  2. She's very handy with a ________________.
  3. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. He works in a ________________ mill.
  6. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  11. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  14. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — letters
  2. saw — the tool
  3. band — a ring
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. saw — the tool
  6. pound — a weight
  7. field — farmland
  8. band — a music group
  9. field — a subject
  10. saw — past of 'see'
  11. spell — magic
  12. field — for sport
  13. pound — to hit hard
  14. spell — a short time
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. pound — for dogs
  17. mine — for digging
  18. band — a rubber band

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