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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. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  6. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  9. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  10. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  11. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  12. He is an ace ________________.
  13. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  14. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  15. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  16. False peace will not ________________.
  17. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  22. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  23. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  24. ________________ games are popular in Germany.

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

Answer key

  1. pound — a weight
  2. last — final
  3. content — happy
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. pound — to hit hard
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. row — a line
  9. chest — a box
  10. chest — of your body
  11. board — a committee
  12. pitcher — in baseball
  13. content — videos and posts
  14. board — to get on
  15. pound — for dogs
  16. last — to go on
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. kid — to tease
  19. kid — child
  20. row — to paddle
  21. chest — of your body
  22. content — the amount
  23. last — finally
  24. board — a flat piece

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