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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. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  2. There's no middle ________________.
  3. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  4. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  5. The ________________ took off on time.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  9. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  12. The ________________ market has crashed.
  13. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  14. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  15. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  16. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  17. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  18. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  19. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  20. The ball is in your ________________.
  21. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  22. That was a fun ________________.
  23. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pound — for dogs
  2. ground — a position
  3. wave — a sudden rise
  4. wave — of the sea
  5. plane — an aircraft
  6. cold — not warm
  7. cold — an illness
  8. court — of law
  9. ground — the earth
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. plane — a tool
  12. stock — shares
  13. wave — with your hand
  14. stock — a soup base
  15. game — a kind of play
  16. stock — goods
  17. ground — crushed
  18. pound — a weight
  19. court — of a king
  20. court — for sport
  21. pound — to hit hard
  22. game — a match
  23. plane — in geometry
  24. game — wild animals

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