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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: drill · ground · track · field · wind · bound · cap · hand

  1. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  2. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  6. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  7. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  8. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  9. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  10. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  11. There's no middle ________________.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  14. That was ________________ to happen.
  15. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  16. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  17. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  20. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  21. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  22. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  23. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  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. ground — crushed
  2. track — a path
  3. field — farmland
  4. field — for sport
  5. wind — moving air
  6. drill — a practice
  7. cap — a hat
  8. cap — a lid
  9. track — a song
  10. drill — army training
  11. ground — a position
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. track — to keep track
  14. bound — certain
  15. hand — help
  16. bound — obliged
  17. wind — to turn a key
  18. hand — in cards
  19. bound — tied together
  20. wind — moving air
  21. cap — of ice
  22. drill — the tool
  23. ground — the earth
  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