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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. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  2. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  3. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  11. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  12. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. I can't ________________ this cold.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  18. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  21. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  24. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.

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

Answer key

  1. pound — a weight
  2. snap — to snap out of it
  3. stand — for spectators
  4. hand — in cards
  5. hand — help
  6. pound — for dogs
  7. content — happy
  8. fall — to drop
  9. degree — an amount
  10. content — the amount
  11. snap — to speak sharply
  12. snap — to click
  13. degree — from a university
  14. stand — to bear
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. stand — on your feet
  18. wound — past of 'wind'
  19. wound — an injury
  20. fall — to drop
  21. fall — the season
  22. degree — temperature
  23. wound — an injury
  24. pound — to hit hard

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