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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: pop · game · wind · straw · stand · fork · rule · field

  1. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  2. I can't ________________ this cold.
  3. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  4. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. You don't need to ________________ round.
  9. That was a fun ________________.
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  14. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  15. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  16. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. We're almost out of ________________.
  19. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  20. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  21. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  22. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  23. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  24. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a kind of play
  2. stand — to bear
  3. rule — government
  4. straw — a straw man
  5. field — for sport
  6. rule — a law
  7. game — wild animals
  8. pop — to visit
  9. game — a match
  10. field — farmland
  11. fork — to eat with
  12. field — a subject
  13. pop — music
  14. stand — on your feet
  15. stand — for spectators
  16. wind — moving air
  17. wind — moving air
  18. pop — soda
  19. wind — to turn a key
  20. fork — a garden tool
  21. straw — dry grass
  22. fork — in a road
  23. straw — to clutch at straws
  24. rule — to rule out

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