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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. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  2. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  5. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  6. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  7. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  8. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  9. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  10. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  11. That was a fun ________________.
  12. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  15. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  16. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  17. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  18. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  21. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  22. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  23. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  24. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.

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

Answer key

  1. pound — for dogs
  2. game — wild animals
  3. chest — of your body
  4. perch — the fish
  5. face — to confront
  6. pound — to hit hard
  7. wind — moving air
  8. mark — a trace
  9. cap — a hat
  10. mark — to pay attention
  11. game — a match
  12. perch — for a bird
  13. wind — moving air
  14. chest — of your body
  15. cap — a lid
  16. mark — a grade
  17. perch — for a bird
  18. cap — of ice
  19. chest — a box
  20. face — to point toward
  21. face — part of the head
  22. game — a kind of play
  23. wind — to turn a key
  24. pound — a weight

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