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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: snap · pound · field · cold · current · spring · track · game

  1. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  2. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  13. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  14. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  17. That was a fun ________________.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  20. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  21. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  22. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  23. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  24. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.

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

Answer key

  1. track — a path
  2. current — happening now
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. field — farmland
  5. game — wild animals
  6. cold — an illness
  7. track — to keep track
  8. cold — not warm
  9. spring — of water
  10. pound — for dogs
  11. spring — the season
  12. snap — to click
  13. game — a kind of play
  14. track — a song
  15. field — a subject
  16. snap — to speak sharply
  17. game — a match
  18. field — for sport
  19. snap — to snap out of it
  20. current — electric
  21. pound — a weight
  22. current — of water
  23. spring — a coil
  24. pound — to hit hard

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