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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: chest · patient · pop · nail · clip · game · pound · race

  1. You don't need to ________________ round.
  2. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  3. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  4. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  5. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  6. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  7. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  8. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. We're almost out of ________________.
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  16. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  17. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  20. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  24. The ________________ went through the wall.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — to visit
  2. pound — a weight
  3. nail — for a hammer
  4. patient — calm and waiting
  5. pound — for dogs
  6. race — humankind
  7. pop — music
  8. race — the arms race
  9. clip — for paper
  10. pound — to hit hard
  11. chest — of your body
  12. chest — a box
  13. pop — soda
  14. game — a match
  15. patient — a sick person
  16. nail — on a finger
  17. game — a kind of play
  18. clip — a video
  19. chest — of your body
  20. race — a contest
  21. clip — to cut
  22. game — wild animals
  23. patient — a sick person
  24. nail — for a hammer

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