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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. He is an ace ________________.
  2. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  3. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  4. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  7. There's no middle ________________.
  8. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  9. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  10. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  11. Have you found your soul ________________?
  12. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  17. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  18. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  19. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  20. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  21. That was ________________ to happen.
  22. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  23. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  24. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — in baseball
  2. bound — obliged
  3. pound — for dogs
  4. band — a ring
  5. cold — not warm
  6. mate — a friend
  7. ground — a position
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. bound — tied together
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. mate — a partner
  12. ground — crushed
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. pound — to hit hard
  15. cold — an illness
  16. band — a rubber band
  17. drill — army training
  18. ground — the earth
  19. pound — a weight
  20. mate — to breed
  21. bound — certain
  22. drill — the tool
  23. drill — a practice
  24. band — a music group

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