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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. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  6. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  9. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  10. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  13. We're on a ________________ here.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  16. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  17. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  18. I can't ________________ this cold.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  21. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  24. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.

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

Answer key

  1. stand — for spectators
  2. clip — for paper
  3. land — ground
  4. cold — not warm
  5. roll — a cake
  6. band — a music group
  7. land — to come down
  8. band — a ring
  9. land — a country
  10. roll — a list
  11. cold — an illness
  12. pound — for dogs
  13. roll — on a roll
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. dip — to dunk
  16. dip — to sink
  17. stand — on your feet
  18. stand — to bear
  19. clip — to cut
  20. band — a rubber band
  21. pound — to hit hard
  22. clip — a video
  23. dip — a sauce
  24. pound — a weight

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