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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: pop · cold · land · pass · pitcher · tear · calf · field

  1. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. He is an ace ________________.
  5. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  6. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. You don't need to ________________ round.
  17. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  18. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  19. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  22. We're almost out of ________________.
  23. When are we going to ________________?
  24. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. land — a country
  3. land — ground
  4. pitcher — in baseball
  5. pass — a permit
  6. calf — a young animal
  7. cold — not warm
  8. pop — music
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. cold — an illness
  11. field — farmland
  12. tear — from crying
  13. field — a subject
  14. tear — from crying
  15. field — for sport
  16. pop — to visit
  17. pass — to succeed
  18. calf — of the leg
  19. pass — to spend time
  20. tear — to rip
  21. calf — a young animal
  22. pop — soda
  23. land — to come down
  24. pitcher — a jug

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