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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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468
Word bank
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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. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  2. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  3. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  6. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  9. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  10. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  11. Have you met the new head ________________?
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  17. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  18. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  19. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  20. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  21. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  22. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  23. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  24. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.

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

Answer key

  1. object — a thing
  2. pound — to hit hard
  3. lean — thin
  4. cold — not warm
  5. coach — pulled by horses
  6. coach — a trainer
  7. wound — an injury
  8. racket — for tennis
  9. racket — for tennis
  10. wound — an injury
  11. coach — a trainer
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. cold — an illness
  15. kid — child
  16. object — to protest
  17. lean — to rest against
  18. wound — past of 'wind'
  19. pound — a weight
  20. object — an aim
  21. kid — to tease
  22. lean — to bend
  23. racket — a loud noise
  24. pound — for dogs

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