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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  3. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  4. That was ________________ to happen.
  5. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  6. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  7. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  8. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  9. Have you found your soul ________________?
  10. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  11. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  12. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  17. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  18. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  21. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  24. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. chair — to sit on
  3. wound — an injury
  4. bound — certain
  5. pound — a weight
  6. pound — for dogs
  7. bound — obliged
  8. chair — a leader
  9. mate — a partner
  10. bound — tied together
  11. pound — to hit hard
  12. tear — from crying
  13. capital — money
  14. tear — to rip
  15. cold — an illness
  16. tear — from crying
  17. chair — a professorship
  18. mate — to breed
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. wound — past of 'wind'
  21. mate — a friend
  22. cold — not warm
  23. capital — a city
  24. wound — an injury

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