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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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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: net · squash · pound · kid · staff · pitcher · field · branch

  1. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  3. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  6. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  7. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  8. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  9. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  10. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  11. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  12. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  13. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  14. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  15. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. He is an ace ________________.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  20. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  21. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  22. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  23. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. squash — the sport
  3. net — after costs
  4. kid — to tease
  5. staff — employees
  6. branch — a division
  7. kid — child
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. pound — for dogs
  10. pound — to hit hard
  11. branch — of a bank
  12. squash — to crush
  13. branch — of a tree
  14. net — in sport
  15. staff — employees
  16. field — a subject
  17. pitcher — in baseball
  18. field — for sport
  19. pitcher — a jug
  20. pound — a weight
  21. net — for catching
  22. staff — a stick
  23. squash — the vegetable
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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