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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  6. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  9. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  10. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  11. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  12. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  15. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  18. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  21. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  22. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  23. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  24. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. pound — for dogs
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. cold — not warm
  5. tear — to rip
  6. row — to paddle
  7. cold — an illness
  8. scale — for weighing
  9. tear — from crying
  10. pound — to hit hard
  11. scale — in music
  12. bass — the fish
  13. chest — a box
  14. board — to get on
  15. board — a flat piece
  16. chest — of your body
  17. board — a committee
  18. bass — low music
  19. tear — from crying
  20. pound — a weight
  21. bass — the instrument
  22. row — a line
  23. chest — of your body
  24. scale — size or range

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