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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: field · pound · wake · tube · ruler · spring · cell · toast

  1. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  2. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  8. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  9. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  10. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  11. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  12. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  13. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  14. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  15. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  19. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  23. I'll be taking the ________________.
  24. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.

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

Answer key

  1. pound — a weight
  2. toast — a drink to someone
  3. field — for sport
  4. field — farmland
  5. cell — a phone
  6. spring — the season
  7. pound — for dogs
  8. cell — in biology
  9. ruler — for measuring
  10. tube — a container
  11. toast — bread
  12. ruler — a monarch
  13. ruler — for measuring
  14. wake — to stop sleeping
  15. pound — to hit hard
  16. spring — a coil
  17. cell — in a prison
  18. tube — in a tire
  19. wake — a trail
  20. spring — of water
  21. field — a subject
  22. wake — before a funeral
  23. tube — the underground
  24. toast — the most admired

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