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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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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 · march · nail · mine · wind · field

  1. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  5. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  6. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  7. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  8. The ________________ went through the wall.
  9. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  10. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  13. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  14. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  15. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  16. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. snap — to speak sharply
  3. field — for sport
  4. nail — on a finger
  5. march — the month
  6. march — music
  7. wind — moving air
  8. nail — for a hammer
  9. mine — belonging to me
  10. wind — to turn a key
  11. field — a subject
  12. mine — for digging
  13. snap — to snap out of it
  14. nail — for a hammer
  15. snap — to click
  16. march — the month
  17. wind — moving air
  18. mine — an explosive

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