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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. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  2. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  3. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  4. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  7. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  8. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  20. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  21. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  22. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  23. This piece is in a major ________________.
  24. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.

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

Answer key

  1. pound — a weight
  2. key — the most important part
  3. snap — to snap out of it
  4. scale — size or range
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. snap — to speak sharply
  7. snap — to click
  8. fork — a garden tool
  9. cold — not warm
  10. scale — in music
  11. shower — rain
  12. shower — a meteor shower
  13. wound — an injury
  14. key — for a lock
  15. cold — an illness
  16. pound — to hit hard
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. wound — an injury
  19. fork — to eat with
  20. shower — to wash
  21. pound — for dogs
  22. fork — in a road
  23. key — in music
  24. scale — for weighing

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