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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: straw · fork · nail · field · patient · race · ground · pop

  1. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  2. You don't need to ________________ round.
  3. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  6. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  9. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  10. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  11. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  12. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  13. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  14. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  15. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  20. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  21. There's no middle ________________.
  22. The ________________ went through the wall.
  23. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  24. We're almost out of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. race — a contest
  2. pop — to visit
  3. ground — crushed
  4. field — for sport
  5. race — the arms race
  6. nail — on a finger
  7. field — farmland
  8. straw — a straw man
  9. straw — to clutch at straws
  10. ground — the earth
  11. fork — in a road
  12. pop — music
  13. race — humankind
  14. fork — to eat with
  15. patient — calm and waiting
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. nail — for a hammer
  18. field — a subject
  19. patient — a sick person
  20. fork — a garden tool
  21. ground — a position
  22. nail — for a hammer
  23. patient — a sick person
  24. pop — soda

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