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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. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  2. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  3. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  6. That was ________________ to happen.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  9. David sat on the ________________.
  10. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  11. When are we going to ________________?
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  14. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  15. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  16. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  17. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — music
  2. rule — government
  3. pound — to hit hard
  4. field — a subject
  5. land — ground
  6. bound — certain
  7. shower — to wash
  8. pound — a weight
  9. swing — to play on
  10. swing — in golf
  11. land — to come down
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. rule — to rule out
  14. bound — obliged
  15. rule — a law
  16. pound — for dogs
  17. wound — an injury
  18. field — farmland
  19. bound — tied together
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. wound — an injury
  22. land — a country
  23. shower — rain
  24. field — for sport

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