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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 120 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: ball · drill · field · wound · race · plane · bulb · pound

  1. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  3. I've got to change the light ________________.
  4. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  5. The ________________ took off on time.
  6. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  7. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. The King held a masked ________________.
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  12. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  13. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  14. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  15. The light ________________ burned out.
  16. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  17. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  20. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  21. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  22. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  23. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  24. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. race — humankind
  3. bulb — for light
  4. wound — an injury
  5. plane — an aircraft
  6. drill — army training
  7. ball — a great time
  8. wound — an injury
  9. ball — a dance
  10. field — a subject
  11. drill — the tool
  12. race — a contest
  13. pound — to hit hard
  14. drill — a practice
  15. bulb — for light
  16. race — the arms race
  17. plane — in geometry
  18. field — for sport
  19. pound — a weight
  20. wound — past of 'wind'
  21. ball — a round shape
  22. pound — for dogs
  23. plane — a tool
  24. bulb — of a plant

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