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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. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  2. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  3. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  7. False peace will not ________________.
  8. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  9. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  10. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  11. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  12. I've got to change the light ________________.
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. The light ________________ burned out.
  15. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  16. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  17. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  18. That was a fun ________________.
  19. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  20. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  24. Can you turn the ________________ on?

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

Answer key

  1. pound — a weight
  2. spring — a coil
  3. bulb — of a plant
  4. hand — help
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. game — wild animals
  7. last — to go on
  8. fan — a supporter
  9. fan — a supporter
  10. pound — to hit hard
  11. last — final
  12. bulb — for light
  13. hand — in cards
  14. bulb — for light
  15. march — the month
  16. pound — for dogs
  17. last — finally
  18. game — a match
  19. game — a kind of play
  20. march — music
  21. spring — the season
  22. spring — of water
  23. march — the month
  24. fan — to cool the air

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