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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. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  2. He is an ace ________________.
  3. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  4. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  5. That was ________________ to happen.
  6. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  10. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  11. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  12. He was locked up in a ________________.
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. When are we going to ________________?
  15. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  16. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  19. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  20. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  21. That was a fun ________________.
  22. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  23. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. pitcher — in baseball
  3. cell — in biology
  4. pound — to hit hard
  5. bound — certain
  6. bound — obliged
  7. land — ground
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. prune — to trim
  10. pound — a weight
  11. wound — an injury
  12. cell — in a prison
  13. cell — a phone
  14. land — to come down
  15. pound — for dogs
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. land — a country
  18. prune — to trim
  19. wound — past of 'wind'
  20. wound — an injury
  21. game — a match
  22. bound — tied together
  23. prune — the fruit
  24. game — wild animals

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