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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 116 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: kid · pound · stick · clip · field · game · racket · ball

  1. That was a fun ________________.
  2. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  3. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  4. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  5. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  10. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  11. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  17. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  19. The King held a masked ________________.
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  23. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  24. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a match
  2. racket — a loud noise
  3. pound — for dogs
  4. ball — a great time
  5. pound — to hit hard
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. clip — for paper
  8. clip — a video
  9. ball — a round shape
  10. stick — to attach or keep to
  11. racket — for tennis
  12. field — farmland
  13. field — a subject
  14. field — for sport
  15. kid — to tease
  16. pound — a weight
  17. game — wild animals
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  19. ball — a dance
  20. kid — child
  21. clip — to cut
  22. stick — a piece of wood
  23. racket — for tennis
  24. stick — a piece of wood

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