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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. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  2. You don't need to ________________ round.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. He was locked up in a ________________.
  9. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  10. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  14. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  17. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  18. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  19. We're almost out of ________________.
  20. There's no middle ________________.
  21. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!

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

Answer key

  1. pound — to hit hard
  2. pop — to visit
  3. spring — the season
  4. hand — help
  5. pop — music
  6. spring — a coil
  7. clip — a video
  8. cell — in a prison
  9. pound — a weight
  10. ground — crushed
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. spring — of water
  13. bore — to drill
  14. bore — to tire
  15. clip — for paper
  16. pound — for dogs
  17. ground — the earth
  18. bore — gave birth
  19. pop — soda
  20. ground — a position
  21. hand — in cards
  22. cell — in biology
  23. clip — to cut
  24. cell — a phone

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