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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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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  3. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  4. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  5. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  14. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  15. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  16. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  17. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  18. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. pound — to hit hard
  3. band — a rubber band
  4. fall — the season
  5. fall — to drop
  6. cold — not warm
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. chest — of your body
  9. pound — for dogs
  10. chest — of your body
  11. band — a music group
  12. chest — a box
  13. fall — to drop
  14. pound — a weight
  15. band — a ring
  16. kick — a thrill
  17. kick — with a leg
  18. kick — in football

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