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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: suit · pound · kid · squash · ground · clip · field · drill

  1. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  8. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. There's no middle ________________.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  15. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  16. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  17. When will it ________________ you to start?
  18. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  19. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  20. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  21. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  24. I'd like to play a game of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — crushed
  2. clip — for paper
  3. field — for sport
  4. suit — in cards
  5. kid — child
  6. field — farmland
  7. squash — to crush
  8. ground — the earth
  9. clip — a video
  10. suit — clothes
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. ground — a position
  13. field — a subject
  14. squash — the vegetable
  15. pound — to hit hard
  16. pound — a weight
  17. suit — to fit
  18. pound — for dogs
  19. drill — a practice
  20. kid — to tease
  21. drill — army training
  22. clip — to cut
  23. drill — the tool
  24. squash — the sport

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