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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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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: wind · bass · race · pound · field · kid · chair · patient

  1. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  2. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  7. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  10. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  11. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  12. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  13. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  14. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  17. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  18. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  19. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  20. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  21. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  22. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — to sit on
  2. pound — to hit hard
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. kid — child
  5. field — farmland
  6. pound — a weight
  7. patient — calm and waiting
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. patient — a sick person
  10. chair — a leader
  11. pound — for dogs
  12. race — the arms race
  13. bass — the fish
  14. patient — a sick person
  15. field — a subject
  16. wind — moving air
  17. race — humankind
  18. bass — low music
  19. kid — to tease
  20. race — a contest
  21. chair — a professorship
  22. bass — the instrument
  23. wind — moving air
  24. field — for 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