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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. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  2. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  3. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  4. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  5. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  6. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  7. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  12. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  17. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  18. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  19. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  22. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  23. There's no middle ________________.
  24. She got the top ________________ in the exam.

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

Answer key

  1. mark — to pay attention
  2. bowl — a football final
  3. wind — moving air
  4. ground — crushed
  5. wind — moving air
  6. band — a ring
  7. pound — a weight
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. pound — to hit hard
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. bowl — to roll
  12. current — electric
  13. cold — not warm
  14. mark — a trace
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. pound — for dogs
  17. ground — the earth
  18. bowl — a dish
  19. current — happening now
  20. cold — an illness
  21. current — of water
  22. band — a music group
  23. ground — a position
  24. mark — a grade

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