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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. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  3. He was locked up in a ________________.
  4. That was ________________ to happen.
  5. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  10. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  11. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  12. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  15. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  19. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  20. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  21. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  22. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. We are ________________ to obey laws.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. pound — for dogs
  3. cell — in a prison
  4. bound — certain
  5. mine — an explosive
  6. mine — for digging
  7. wound — an injury
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. mouse — the animal
  10. bound — tied together
  11. scale — for weighing
  12. mouse — for a computer
  13. wound — an injury
  14. scale — size or range
  15. cell — a phone
  16. cold — not warm
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. mouse — the animal
  19. pound — a weight
  20. cell — in biology
  21. scale — in music
  22. pound — to hit hard
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. bound — obliged

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