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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. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  2. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  3. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  4. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  5. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  6. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  7. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  8. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. We're almost out of ________________.
  12. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  15. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  16. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  17. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  20. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  21. My father caught me by the ________________.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. You don't need to ________________ round.
  24. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — music
  2. arm — a part of something
  3. band — a ring
  4. tear — to rip
  5. row — a line
  6. band — a music group
  7. arm — part of the body
  8. pound — to hit hard
  9. cold — an illness
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. pop — soda
  12. pound — for dogs
  13. cold — not warm
  14. wound — an injury
  15. wound — an injury
  16. row — a quarrel
  17. tear — from crying
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. tear — from crying
  20. band — a rubber band
  21. arm — part of the body
  22. row — to paddle
  23. pop — to visit
  24. pound — a weight

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