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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: scale · field · game · shower · pop · prune · rush · race

  1. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  3. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  4. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  5. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  6. We're almost out of ________________.
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  9. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  10. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  11. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  12. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  13. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  14. That must've been a ________________.
  15. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  16. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  17. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. You don't need to ________________ round.
  22. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  24. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. race — the arms race
  3. rush — to hurry
  4. prune — to trim
  5. race — a contest
  6. pop — soda
  7. game — a match
  8. shower — rain
  9. shower — to wash
  10. rush — hurry
  11. scale — size or range
  12. game — a kind of play
  13. pop — music
  14. rush — a thrill
  15. race — humankind
  16. scale — in music
  17. prune — to trim
  18. field — a subject
  19. shower — a meteor shower
  20. field — farmland
  21. pop — to visit
  22. prune — the fruit
  23. game — wild animals
  24. scale — for weighing

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