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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. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  2. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  3. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  4. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  7. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  15. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  20. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pound — to hit hard
  2. mine — belonging to me
  3. bear — the animal
  4. pound — a weight
  5. cold — an illness
  6. bank — for money
  7. face — to point toward
  8. spring — of water
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. bear — to put up with
  11. bat — the animal
  12. bank — for money
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. bear — the animal
  15. mine — for digging
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. face — part of the head
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. face — to confront
  20. bank — of a river
  21. spring — a coil
  22. pound — for dogs
  23. cold — not warm
  24. spring — the season

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