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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. False peace will not ________________.
  2. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  3. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  4. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  5. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  6. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  9. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  12. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  15. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  16. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  17. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  21. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. ________________ games are popular in Germany.

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

Answer key

  1. last — to go on
  2. wound — past of 'wind'
  3. board — a committee
  4. pound — to hit hard
  5. fork — to eat with
  6. wound — an injury
  7. shower — to wash
  8. shower — rain
  9. fork — a garden tool
  10. land — to come down
  11. pound — a weight
  12. land — a country
  13. land — ground
  14. last — final
  15. wound — an injury
  16. board — to get on
  17. pound — for dogs
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. bat — the animal
  20. fork — in a road
  21. last — finally
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. board — a flat piece

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