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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: land · bear · field · straw · pound · coach · clip · wave

  1. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  2. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  8. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  9. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  10. Have you met the new head ________________?
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. When are we going to ________________?
  14. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  17. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  20. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  21. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. A black ________________ roamed the forest.

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

Answer key

  1. bear — to put up with
  2. wave — a sudden rise
  3. field — farmland
  4. clip — for paper
  5. field — for sport
  6. clip — a video
  7. coach — a trainer
  8. pound — to hit hard
  9. pound — for dogs
  10. coach — a trainer
  11. land — ground
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. land — to come down
  14. wave — with your hand
  15. clip — to cut
  16. bear — the animal
  17. wave — of the sea
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. coach — pulled by horses
  20. straw — to clutch at straws
  21. pound — a weight
  22. land — a country
  23. field — a subject
  24. bear — the animal

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