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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: field · pound · shower · sharp · wave · clip · game · cap

  1. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  2. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  3. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  4. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  9. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  10. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  13. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  16. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  19. That was a fun ________________.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  22. It's one o'clock ________________.
  23. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  24. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.

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

Answer key

  1. game — wild animals
  2. sharp — with an edge
  3. wave — of the sea
  4. cap — a hat
  5. field — farmland
  6. clip — a video
  7. field — a subject
  8. pound — for dogs
  9. shower — to wash
  10. shower — a meteor shower
  11. clip — for paper
  12. pound — to hit hard
  13. wave — with your hand
  14. field — for sport
  15. cap — a lid
  16. cap — of ice
  17. shower — rain
  18. game — a kind of play
  19. game — a match
  20. clip — to cut
  21. sharp — clever
  22. sharp — exactly
  23. pound — a weight
  24. wave — a sudden rise

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