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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 · field · lash · race · last · pound

  1. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  6. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  7. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  8. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  9. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  10. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  11. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  12. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  13. False peace will not ________________.
  14. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  18. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. last — final
  3. field — a subject
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. pound — for dogs
  6. lash — a whip stroke
  7. lash — an eyelash
  8. wind — moving air
  9. race — a contest
  10. race — humankind
  11. pound — a weight
  12. pound — to hit hard
  13. last — to go on
  14. lash — to lash out
  15. field — farmland
  16. field — for sport
  17. last — finally
  18. race — the arms race

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