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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. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  2. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  3. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  4. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  5. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  6. There's no middle ________________.
  7. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  8. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  9. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  10. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  11. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  14. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  15. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  16. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  17. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  20. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  21. Have you met the new head ________________?
  22. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  23. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  24. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — a lid
  2. content — the amount
  3. pound — for dogs
  4. coach — a trainer
  5. coach — pulled by horses
  6. ground — a position
  7. pound — to hit hard
  8. content — videos and posts
  9. wind — moving air
  10. ground — the earth
  11. cap — of ice
  12. chest — a box
  13. mine — belonging to me
  14. content — happy
  15. mine — for digging
  16. pound — a weight
  17. mine — an explosive
  18. chest — of your body
  19. cap — a hat
  20. wind — moving air
  21. coach — a trainer
  22. wind — to turn a key
  23. ground — crushed
  24. chest — of your body

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