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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. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  4. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  5. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  6. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  7. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  8. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  9. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  10. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  11. There's no middle ________________.
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  16. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  17. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  18. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  21. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  24. Don't do anything ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — on the skin
  2. shower — to wash
  3. pound — a weight
  4. track — a song
  5. band — a ring
  6. ground — the earth
  7. rash — a series
  8. pound — for dogs
  9. scale — for weighing
  10. pound — to hit hard
  11. ground — a position
  12. kid — child
  13. shower — rain
  14. kid — to tease
  15. band — a music group
  16. scale — in music
  17. track — to keep track
  18. scale — size or range
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. track — a path
  21. band — a rubber band
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. ground — crushed
  24. rash — hasty

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