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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. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  2. When are we going to ________________?
  3. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  4. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  5. It's one o'clock ________________.
  6. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  7. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  8. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  9. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  10. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  16. The ball is in your ________________.
  17. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  20. He was locked up in a ________________.
  21. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  22. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  23. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  24. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pound — for dogs
  2. land — to come down
  3. bark — a dog's sound
  4. sharp — with an edge
  5. sharp — exactly
  6. bark — to shout
  7. sharp — clever
  8. land — a country
  9. wound — past of 'wind'
  10. wound — an injury
  11. game — wild animals
  12. cell — a phone
  13. cell — in biology
  14. game — a match
  15. court — of law
  16. court — for sport
  17. game — a kind of play
  18. wound — an injury
  19. pound — to hit hard
  20. cell — in a prison
  21. court — of a king
  22. pound — a weight
  23. bark — of a tree
  24. land — ground

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