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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: pound · rush · last · wave · object · field · clip · race

  1. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  4. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  5. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  8. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  9. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  10. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  11. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  12. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  13. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  16. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  17. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  21. That must've been a ________________.
  22. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  23. False peace will not ________________.
  24. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. field — a subject
  3. race — a contest
  4. object — an aim
  5. last — final
  6. clip — for paper
  7. object — to protest
  8. race — humankind
  9. rush — to hurry
  10. last — finally
  11. pound — a weight
  12. pound — to hit hard
  13. rush — hurry
  14. clip — a video
  15. wave — a sudden rise
  16. wave — of the sea
  17. pound — for dogs
  18. field — for sport
  19. clip — to cut
  20. wave — with your hand
  21. rush — a thrill
  22. object — a thing
  23. last — to go on
  24. race — the arms race

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