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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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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: kid · present · pitcher · field · drill · game · shower · track

  1. That was a fun ________________.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  7. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  10. He is an ace ________________.
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  15. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  16. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  17. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  20. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  21. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  22. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  23. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a match
  2. kid — to tease
  3. field — for sport
  4. drill — a practice
  5. shower — to wash
  6. drill — the tool
  7. drill — army training
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. shower — rain
  10. pitcher — in baseball
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. track — a path
  13. kid — child
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. pitcher — a jug
  16. track — to keep track
  17. game — wild animals
  18. field — farmland
  19. present — a gift
  20. present — the time now
  21. present — there
  22. game — a kind of play
  23. track — a song
  24. field — a subject

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