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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 120 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: pop · mine · tear · row · march · wake · pitcher · field

  1. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  6. He is an ace ________________.
  7. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  8. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  9. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  10. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  11. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  12. You don't need to ________________ round.
  13. We're almost out of ________________.
  14. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  15. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  16. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  17. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  18. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  21. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  22. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  23. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. mine — for digging
  3. row — a line
  4. field — for sport
  5. wake — a trail
  6. pitcher — in baseball
  7. mine — an explosive
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. wake — to stop sleeping
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. row — to paddle
  12. pop — to visit
  13. pop — soda
  14. row — a quarrel
  15. wake — before a funeral
  16. march — the month
  17. march — the month
  18. tear — to rip
  19. field — farmland
  20. march — music
  21. pop — music
  22. tear — from crying
  23. tear — from crying
  24. field — a subject

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