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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. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  2. He works in a ________________ mill.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  5. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  6. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  7. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  8. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  9. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  10. There's no middle ________________.
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. She's very handy with a ________________.
  16. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  17. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  18. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  19. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  20. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  21. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  24. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — an explosive
  2. saw — the tool
  3. chest — of your body
  4. march — the month
  5. pound — for dogs
  6. saw — past of 'see'
  7. march — the month
  8. chest — a box
  9. pound — to hit hard
  10. ground — a position
  11. hand — help
  12. hand — in cards
  13. track — a path
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. saw — the tool
  16. mine — belonging to me
  17. ground — crushed
  18. pound — a weight
  19. chest — of your body
  20. track — to keep track
  21. track — a song
  22. mine — for digging
  23. march — music
  24. ground — the earth

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