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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. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  2. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  3. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  6. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  7. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  10. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  11. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  15. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  19. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. When was this ________________ built?
  22. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.

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

Answer key

  1. bore — gave birth
  2. march — the month
  3. pound — to hit hard
  4. hand — in cards
  5. bore — to drill
  6. pound — a weight
  7. temple — side of the head
  8. cold — not warm
  9. row — a line
  10. temple — a place of worship
  11. bore — to tire
  12. cold — an illness
  13. chest — of your body
  14. pound — for dogs
  15. march — the month
  16. chest — a box
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. row — a quarrel
  19. chest — of your body
  20. row — to paddle
  21. temple — a place of worship
  22. hand — help
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. march — music

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