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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. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  2. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  3. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  6. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  7. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. When are we going to ________________?
  13. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  14. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  15. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  18. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  21. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  22. The ________________ went through the wall.
  23. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  24. Would you like some apricot ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. jam — in traffic
  2. pound — to hit hard
  3. nail — on a finger
  4. clip — a video
  5. tear — from crying
  6. wound — an injury
  7. nail — for a hammer
  8. clip — to cut
  9. land — ground
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. land — a country
  12. land — to come down
  13. wound — past of 'wind'
  14. pound — for dogs
  15. jam — a tight spot
  16. clip — for paper
  17. tear — from crying
  18. tear — to rip
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. pound — a weight
  21. wound — an injury
  22. nail — for a hammer
  23. mine — for digging
  24. jam — to spread on bread

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