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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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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: game · tear · field · tube · rash · pound · snap · rule

  1. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  2. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  4. Don't do anything ________________.
  5. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  6. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  7. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  8. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  9. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  10. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  14. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  15. I'll be taking the ________________.
  16. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  17. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  18. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  23. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  24. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. snap — to click
  3. pound — for dogs
  4. rash — hasty
  5. rule — a law
  6. snap — to snap out of it
  7. pound — to hit hard
  8. pound — a weight
  9. rash — on the skin
  10. tube — a container
  11. field — farmland
  12. game — a match
  13. snap — to speak sharply
  14. rule — to rule out
  15. tube — the underground
  16. rash — a series
  17. game — wild animals
  18. rule — government
  19. field — for sport
  20. tube — in a tire
  21. field — a subject
  22. tear — to rip
  23. game — a kind of play
  24. tear — from crying

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