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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 116 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. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  4. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. False peace will not ________________.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  9. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  12. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  13. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  17. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  18. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. That was ________________ to happen.
  21. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  22. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  23. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  24. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rock — music
  2. cold — not warm
  3. last — finally
  4. pound — to hit hard
  5. game — wild animals
  6. last — to go on
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. rock — to move gently
  9. bound — tied together
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. mark — a grade
  12. mark — to pay attention
  13. mark — a trace
  14. bat — the animal
  15. cold — an illness
  16. rock — a stone
  17. bound — obliged
  18. game — a kind of play
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. bound — certain
  21. pound — for dogs
  22. last — final
  23. pound — a weight
  24. game — a match

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