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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. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  4. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  5. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  6. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  7. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  8. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  11. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  12. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  13. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. The ball is in your ________________.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  20. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  23. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pound — to hit hard
  2. wind — moving air
  3. prune — to trim
  4. pound — for dogs
  5. wind — moving air
  6. prune — to trim
  7. court — of law
  8. bass — the fish
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. bass — low music
  11. bass — the instrument
  12. chair — to sit on
  13. chair — a professorship
  14. capital — money
  15. court — for sport
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. capital — a city
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. pound — a weight
  20. chair — a leader
  21. cold — an illness
  22. court — of a king
  23. prune — the fruit
  24. cold — not warm

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