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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. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  4. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  7. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  8. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  9. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  10. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  13. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  14. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  15. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  16. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  17. That was ________________ to happen.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  20. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  21. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  22. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  23. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  24. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pound — to hit hard
  2. clip — for paper
  3. straw — a straw man
  4. wound — an injury
  5. clip — to cut
  6. straw — to clutch at straws
  7. object — to protest
  8. content — happy
  9. wound — past of 'wind'
  10. object — a thing
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. content — the amount
  13. pound — a weight
  14. bound — tied together
  15. bound — obliged
  16. pound — for dogs
  17. bound — certain
  18. clip — a video
  19. fork — to eat with
  20. fork — a garden tool
  21. wound — an injury
  22. object — an aim
  23. fork — in a road
  24. content — videos and posts

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