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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: field · pitcher · shower · game · mine · bore · chip · ground

  1. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  6. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  9. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. There's no middle ________________.
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  16. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  17. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  18. He is an ace ________________.
  19. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  20. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  21. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  22. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — for digging
  2. field — farmland
  3. bore — to tire
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. chip — to eat
  6. bore — to drill
  7. shower — to wash
  8. ground — crushed
  9. ground — the earth
  10. game — a match
  11. field — a subject
  12. ground — a position
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. pitcher — a jug
  16. shower — rain
  17. bore — gave birth
  18. pitcher — in baseball
  19. shower — a meteor shower
  20. chip — in a computer
  21. chip — for betting
  22. pitcher — a jug
  23. field — for sport
  24. game — wild animals

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