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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. The light ________________ burned out.
  4. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  5. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  6. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  11. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  12. The King held a masked ________________.
  13. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  16. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  17. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  20. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  23. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  24. I've got to change the light ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pound — to hit hard
  2. cold — an illness
  3. bulb — for light
  4. jam — in traffic
  5. wound — past of 'wind'
  6. jam — to spread on bread
  7. clip — a video
  8. pound — for dogs
  9. clip — for paper
  10. bulb — of a plant
  11. jam — a tight spot
  12. ball — a dance
  13. fall — to drop
  14. clip — to cut
  15. pound — a weight
  16. fall — to drop
  17. fall — the season
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. ball — a great time
  20. wound — an injury
  21. cold — not warm
  22. wound — an injury
  23. ball — a round shape
  24. bulb — for light

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