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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. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  7. False peace will not ________________.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  14. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  15. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  16. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. I'll be taking the ________________.
  19. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  22. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. pound — a weight
  2. hand — part of the body
  3. land — to come down
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. hand — help
  6. last — finally
  7. last — to go on
  8. spring — the season
  9. tube — a container
  10. spring — a coil
  11. fork — a garden tool
  12. hand — in cards
  13. row — a line
  14. fork — to eat with
  15. last — final
  16. pound — for dogs
  17. land — a country
  18. tube — the underground
  19. pound — to hit hard
  20. spring — of water
  21. tube — in a tire
  22. fork — in a road
  23. land — ground
  24. row — to paddle

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