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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. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  2. When are we going to ________________?
  3. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  6. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  7. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  8. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  9. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  10. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  14. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  15. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  16. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  19. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  20. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  23. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  24. I had a ________________ with my boss today.

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

Answer key

  1. cue — for pool
  2. land — to come down
  3. snap — to speak sharply
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. cue — a signal
  6. row — to paddle
  7. pound — for dogs
  8. row — a line
  9. pound — a weight
  10. wound — an injury
  11. land — ground
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. snap — to snap out of it
  14. cue — a hint
  15. snap — to click
  16. race — humankind
  17. wind — moving air
  18. race — a contest
  19. race — the arms race
  20. wind — moving air
  21. land — a country
  22. wound — an injury
  23. pound — to hit hard
  24. row — a quarrel

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