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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. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  3. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  4. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  5. It's one o'clock ________________.
  6. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  11. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  12. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  13. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  16. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  17. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  18. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  19. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  20. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  21. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  22. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  23. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  24. This knife is not ________________ enough.

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

Answer key

  1. pound — for dogs
  2. drill — the tool
  3. present — there
  4. pound — a weight
  5. sharp — exactly
  6. race — a contest
  7. cold — an illness
  8. pound — to hit hard
  9. cold — not warm
  10. wind — to turn a key
  11. present — the time now
  12. sharp — clever
  13. pitch — a sports field
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. present — a gift
  16. wind — moving air
  17. pitch — a sales talk
  18. race — humankind
  19. drill — a practice
  20. wind — moving air
  21. drill — army training
  22. race — the arms race
  23. pitch — completely
  24. sharp — with an edge

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