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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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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: bear · kid · tear · land · field · pound · bowl · saw

  1. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  5. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  6. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  7. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  11. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  12. He works in a ________________ mill.
  13. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  16. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. She's very handy with a ________________.
  19. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  20. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  21. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  24. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. bowl — a football final
  3. land — to come down
  4. pound — to hit hard
  5. tear — from crying
  6. bowl — to roll
  7. bowl — a dish
  8. field — for sport
  9. field — farmland
  10. bear — the animal
  11. pound — a weight
  12. saw — the tool
  13. bear — the animal
  14. kid — child
  15. tear — from crying
  16. land — ground
  17. land — a country
  18. saw — the tool
  19. saw — past of 'see'
  20. bear — to put up with
  21. tear — to rip
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. pound — for dogs
  24. kid — to tease

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