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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 ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  2. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  5. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  6. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  7. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  13. The King held a masked ________________.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  16. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  23. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  24. The kitten curled into a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pound — a weight
  2. march — the month
  3. kid — to tease
  4. march — the month
  5. shower — a meteor shower
  6. ball — a great time
  7. hide — animal skin
  8. file — a document
  9. degree — temperature
  10. file — a tool
  11. degree — an amount
  12. hide — to keep secret
  13. ball — a dance
  14. kid — child
  15. shower — to wash
  16. march — music
  17. degree — from a university
  18. hide — to keep secret
  19. file — a line of people
  20. shower — rain
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. pound — for dogs
  23. pound — to hit hard
  24. ball — a round shape

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