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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 116 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: tear · land · racket · perch · pound · current · field · clip

  1. When are we going to ________________?
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  7. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  12. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  13. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  17. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  22. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  23. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  24. Let us try to swim against the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. clip — for paper
  3. pound — to hit hard
  4. field — farmland
  5. clip — a video
  6. racket — a loud noise
  7. tear — from crying
  8. field — a subject
  9. current — electric
  10. tear — from crying
  11. perch — for a bird
  12. land — ground
  13. racket — for tennis
  14. clip — to cut
  15. tear — to rip
  16. perch — the fish
  17. racket — for tennis
  18. field — for sport
  19. perch — for a bird
  20. land — a country
  21. pound — a weight
  22. pound — for dogs
  23. current — happening now
  24. current — of water

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