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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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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 · land · mine · race · prune · track · hand · spring

  1. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  6. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  15. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  16. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  20. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  21. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  22. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  23. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  24. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.

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

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. spring — of water
  3. land — to come down
  4. mine — for digging
  5. prune — the fruit
  6. pound — to hit hard
  7. land — ground
  8. prune — to trim
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. track — a path
  11. spring — the season
  12. track — a song
  13. hand — in cards
  14. race — the arms race
  15. race — a contest
  16. pound — for dogs
  17. spring — a coil
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. pound — a weight
  20. hand — help
  21. track — to keep track
  22. prune — to trim
  23. race — humankind
  24. mine — belonging to me

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