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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 120 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. The water is too ________________.
  2. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  3. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  4. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  5. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  10. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  13. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  18. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  22. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  23. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  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. cold — not warm
  2. can — to be able to
  3. racket — for tennis
  4. racket — a loud noise
  5. row — a quarrel
  6. land — to come down
  7. bark — of a tree
  8. land — ground
  9. pound — a weight
  10. racket — for tennis
  11. hand — help
  12. pound — for dogs
  13. land — a country
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. can — a tin
  16. cold — an illness
  17. row — a line
  18. bark — to shout
  19. hand — in cards
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. bark — a dog's sound
  22. pound — to hit hard
  23. can — a tin
  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