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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 116 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. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  4. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  17. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  18. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  19. He is an ace ________________.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  22. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  23. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  24. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.

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

Answer key

  1. pound — to hit hard
  2. cold — an illness
  3. wake — before a funeral
  4. pound — a weight
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. cold — not warm
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. degree — from a university
  10. wake — to stop sleeping
  11. degree — an amount
  12. wake — a trail
  13. bat — the animal
  14. lean — to bend
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. lean — to rest against
  17. bark — a dog's sound
  18. bark — to shout
  19. pitcher — in baseball
  20. degree — temperature
  21. lean — thin
  22. pitcher — a jug
  23. bark — of a tree
  24. pound — for dogs

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