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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: wind · field · ball · land · club · bay · tear · kid

  1. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  4. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  5. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  8. The King held a masked ________________.
  9. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  19. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  20. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  21. My mare is ________________ in color.
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. land — a country
  3. ball — a round shape
  4. club — a group
  5. land — ground
  6. kid — child
  7. tear — from crying
  8. ball — a dance
  9. ball — a great time
  10. field — farmland
  11. tear — from crying
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. club — for golf
  14. field — for sport
  15. field — a subject
  16. bay — a part of the sea
  17. tear — to rip
  18. wind — moving air
  19. kid — to tease
  20. bay — to keep at bay
  21. bay — a horse colour
  22. land — to come down
  23. club — for dancing
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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