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

  1. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  3. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  4. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  5. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  8. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  11. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  12. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  13. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  16. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  17. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  21. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  22. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. David sat on the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. pound — to hit hard
  3. trunk — of an elephant
  4. pound — a weight
  5. can — a tin
  6. mine — for digging
  7. bear — to put up with
  8. trunk — of a car
  9. cold — an illness
  10. swing — music
  11. swing — in golf
  12. can — a tin
  13. bear — the animal
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. wound — an injury
  16. wound — an injury
  17. pound — for dogs
  18. cold — not warm
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. trunk — of a tree
  21. bear — the animal
  22. can — to be able to
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. swing — to play on

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