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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. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  2. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  3. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  4. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  5. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  6. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  7. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  8. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  11. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. He is an ace ________________.
  18. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  21. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  22. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  23. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pound — a weight
  2. foot — part of the body
  3. pound — to hit hard
  4. foot — a measure
  5. present — a gift
  6. firm — steady
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. march — the month
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. march — the month
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. clip — a video
  13. foot — the bottom
  14. clip — to cut
  15. firm — decided
  16. cold — an illness
  17. pitcher — in baseball
  18. march — music
  19. clip — for paper
  20. pound — for dogs
  21. present — the time now
  22. present — there
  23. firm — a company
  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